The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on Friday said that the sophisticated camera on board Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter has picked up the first X-ray signal from the moon.

The space agency said, “The first X-ray signature was detected from a region near the Apollo landing sites Dec 12 at 02:36 universal time. The solar flare that caused the X-ray fluorescence was exceedingly weak, about 20 times smaller than the minimum the CIXS imaging spectrometer was designed to detect.”

Chandrayaan-1, which was launched by India in October 2008, entered orbit a month later armed with 11 instruments, 5 from India, 3 from ESA (one of which is jointly developed with India and other with Indian contribution), 1 from Bulgaria and 2 from the US.

ISRO said, “The detection is Chandrayaan's first step to reveal the origin and evolution of the moon by mapping its surface composition. The X-ray camera collected three minutes of data from the moon just as the flare started and the camera finished its observation.”

An X-ray or X-radiation (composed of X-rays) is a type of electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers. The X-ray wavelength corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz (30 × 1015 Hz to 30 × 1018 Hz) and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength as compared to ultra violet (UV) rays.

The camera - CIXS (pronounced kicks) - was designed and built at the Rutherford’s space science and technology department. It makes use of X-rays in order to map the surface composition of the moon. It also helps researchers to identify with its source and development, besides measuring the mineral resources on the earth's neighboring heavenly body.

In the statement, Mr. G. Madhavan Nair ISRO chairman said, “The joint development and operationalisation of the camera is a major achievement. First signatures obtained from the spectrometer are encouraging.”