[dust42]

Yes, and right now is full moon, thus the far side is only illuminated by stars.

[_moof]

It isn't full right now. It's a waning gibbous, so the far side is a waxing crescent.

[dust42]

Well, mathematically full moon is only a infinitesimally small split of a second. When I made the comment it was about 12% waxing crescent thus 88% in the dark. And actually darker than a full moon because the earth does not light up the far side.

[davidw]

I wonder why they decided on that timing? If it were better illuminated by the sun, couldn't they get some better photography?

[ranger207]

They want to fly by at lunar sunrise as the shadows help see depth better. Also, they have very sensitive cameras (up to 3,280,000 ISO!); the Earth photo the other day was taken at night, so you can see how they'll be able to get detail even in the dark parts

[smilespray]

640 ISO ought to be enough for anyone.

[brabel]

My guess is that this mission is not about imaging the far side of the Moon at all as that has been done already.

[davidw]

Fair, but these images are going to get a lot of public attention, so making them good ones would be worthwhile.

[_moof]

This is a vehicle test, not a sightseeing trip. Photography is not the priority.

[NooneAtAll3]

current 2nd stage is underpowered, so it has to be compensated by 1st stage right from the start

and since launchpad is in the north hemisphere, Moon has to be at the south part of its orbit

[dust42]

The social media team.

[layer8]

And a little bit by asteroids like 20 Massalia and comets like 24P/Schaumasse.