The satellite achieved orbit around the Moon in late June, and will be mapping its surface extensively. The image you see above is of the lunar highlands south of Mare Nubium, and it's the first image NASA has released from the orbiter.

A release from NASA explains what you're seeing:

"Our first images were taken along the moon's terminator — the dividing line between day and night — making us initially unsure of how they would turn out," said LROC Principal Investigator Mark Robinson of Arizona State University in Tempe. "Because of the deep shadowing, subtle topography is exaggerated, suggesting a craggy and inhospitable surface. In reality, the area is similar to the region where the Apollo 16 astronauts safely explored in 1972.". . . Impact craters feature prominently in both images. Older craters have softened edges, while younger craters appear crisp.

Many more images will be coming from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Also, if you want to dig the Moon even more today, here is one of the original movies made of astronauts landing on the Moon in 1969. Apparently it was long believed lost, and has just now been recovered. (UPDATE: A NASA rep denies that the movie below is real, so enjoy it only as a fiction.)

Happy Independence Day!

Moon photograph via: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (abbreviated as LRO and LCROSS, respectively) launched yesterday from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, beginning their journey to the moon. While the LRO will spend years in orbit around the moon, mapping it with greater precision than ever before, the LCROSS will remain in space just a few months before launching itself at the moon's south pole in the hopes of excavating areas of pole that, when thawed by sunlight, could contain water necessary if man was to spend long periods of time on the moon.

Both missions are part of a process aimed at establishing potential moon settlements for humanity... or, at the very least, finding new and inventive ways of spending $580 million of taxpayer money.

Lunar probe launches on collision course with moon [New Scientist]