NASA's lunar probe snaps eerie black and white image of Jupiter and two of its moons

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter - focused on observing the moon in preparation for humanity heading back to the celestial satellite - has snapped an eerie black and white photo of Jupiter and two of its moons. The LRO, which launched in June 2009, snapped the image of Jupiter and its moons, Io and Europa from 390 million miles away. The spacecraft sits roughly 62 miles (100km) above the surface of the moon, which is 239,000 miles from Earth. Given the extreme distance between the moon and the gas giant and the fact that the LRO is'aging' according to a statement, the image is a feat of technological strength. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a black and white photo of Jupiter and two of its moons, Io and Europa (circled in red above) 'Because the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft is aging (LRO launched over 12 years ago), it now only uses its two star trackers to keep tabs on where it is pointed, rather than its inertial measurement unit, which adds complications to imaging anywhere but straight down at the lunar surface (we don't want the star trackers pointed at the Moon rather than the stars!),' Brett Denevi, deputy principal investigator for the LRO Camera, said in a statement.