China's First Moon Picture Accused of Plagiarizing from NASA

usa 2005 moon picture

Chinese netizens accused that China's first moon picture (below) copied a picture (above) that USA took in 2005, after they found the striking similarities between parts of the two images. What the difference one can find is that there has an extra small crater spotted in the Chinese version photo (please compare the red-circled areas of two pictures posted).

china's first moon picture

It's this extra small crater that becomes the proof of Ouyang Ziyuan, aka father of Chinese moon exploration, who insists China's first moon picture is genuine during a lecture in Shanghai December 2. He did believe the two pictures showed the same area on the moon, but still pointing out the possibility that the resolution of cameras on USA's moon orbiter might be not high enough or during 2005 to 2007, the added small crater was created after some a small celestial object hit the moon surface. Link