- A Chinese spacecraft called Chang'e 4 has successfully made the first landing on the far side of the moon
- The lunar explorer touched down at 10.26am (2.26am GMT) local time in the Aitken basin's Von Karman crater
- The mission communicates with Earth via a relay satellite known as the Queqiao which launched in May
- Moon's Von Karman crater is at its south pole and is 1,600 miles across and eight miles deep
WHY DOES THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON LOOK RED?
One of the first images to emerge from the Chang'e-4 lunar probe on the dark side of the moon shows a crater and a ridge in the background bathed in a reddish hue.
The entire image is tinged in a pink glow which makes the surface resemble Mars more than it does the moon.
This, according to Christopher Conselice, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, is merely a trick of the light.
He told MailOnline: 'The appearance of the reddish hue of the image from the lunar probe is a trick of the light.
'The surface of the far side of the moon is the same colour as on the near side, but the illumination from the lamp on Chang'e-4 created a glow which altered the way it looks.'
Professor Conselice compared the image to when a lamp is turned on in the corner of the room and changes the way the surfaces are perceived.
He also says that the light appears to span to the horizon due to the location of the probe within the Von Karman crater and its proximity to a large ridge which hides the more distant terrain.
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