Have you ever looked at Google Maps and wondered why you can scroll around the surface of the moon in the same way? Well now there’s no need to wonder any longer because NASA has just released its first ever interactive map of the surface of the moon with a 650 gigapixel map of its north pole.

The map is made up of 10 581 separate high-resolution pictures taken over a period of four years by the two narrow angle cameras on board  NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The images have been seamlessly stitched together to form a 900 billion pixel interactive map that users can scroll around the same way you would look at any map of earth online.

Each pixel represents two meters of the moon’s surface and the actual surface area of the picture is around twice the size of the combined area of South Africa. If you’re thinking about downloading the image for offline use then you’ll have to fork out for a spare 950 gigabytes of storage to save the monstrous file.

The map is not only there as a fun tool for the public to play around with in fact “This unique image is a tremendous resource for scientists and the public alike,” according to one of the LRO project scientists John Kellar. In fact because of the incredible level of detail that the image brings as well as the seamless way in which it has been stitched together will allow for earth-bound researchers and private space firms alike to plot the best places to land potential mission to the moon.

The LRO was launched by NASA in 2009 to get measurements needed to check for potential landing sites for future manned missions to the moon including radiation measurements and searching for traces of water. Since making it to the moon the LRO has taken images of all of the previous Apollo mission landing sites which are still preserved on the surface owing to the lack of weather on our largest satellite.