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Credit & Copyright: ESA /
MPS
/ UPD / LAM / IAA / RSSD / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA;
Video Compilation: Daniel Machacek / YouTube: planetaryprobes
Explanation:
What would it look like to approach an asteroid in a spaceship?
In 2010, ESA's robotic
Rosetta spacecraft zipped past the asteroid 21 Lutetia
taking data and snapping images in an effort to better
determine the history of the asteroid and the origin of its
unusual colors.
Recently, many images from a camera always facing
the asteroid were compiled
into the
above video.
Although of unknown composition,
Lutetia is not massive enough for gravity to pull it into a sphere.
The 100-kilometer across
Lutetian is currently the largest asteroid or comet nucleus that
has been visited by a human-launched spacecraft.
Orbiting in the main asteroid belt,
Lutetia
shows itself to be a heavily cratered remnant of the early Solar System.
Now well past Lutetia, the Rosetta spacecraft is
continuing onto
comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko where a landing is planned for 2014.
Video Compilation: Daniel Machacek / YouTube: planetaryprobes
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: asteroid
Publications with words: asteroid
See also: