Chang'e 2 Ready to Photograph Bay of Rainbows

Chinese scientists maneuvered the country's second lunar probe Chang'e 2 to an experimental orbit Tuesday evening, making preparations for taking pictures of the Moon's Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows.

Scientists successfully activated four attitude control engines on Chang'e 2 and sent the satellite into the orbit with a perilune of just 15 kilometer above the moon, according to a flight control official in Beijing.

Chang'e 2 was launched on October 1 by a Long March 3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

It will photograph the Bay of Rainbows region with its CCD cameras from Wednesday, according to the center.

(Xinhua News Agency October 26, 2010)