A Diamond-shaped Asteroid

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft focused its OSIRIS imaging system and the VIRTUS infrared-sensitive spectrometer on asteroid (2867 Steins) last night and came away with some great images of a diamond-shaped chunk of rock.  The images were presented at a press conference early Saturday, and they show quite a lot of detail. Rita Schulz, Rosetta Project Scientist, said, “In the images is a chain of impact craters, which must have formed from recurring impact as the asteroid rotated. The impact may have been caused by a meteoroid stream, or fragments from a shattered small body.”

That chain is made up of at least seven craters laid down when successive pieces of debris hit the asteroid. There are more images and data to analyze, making this a very well-studied asteroid indeed! You can follow the mission at the link above.

A Spacecraft Flyby of an Asteroid

As I write this, the Rosetta spacecraft has completed its close flyby of (2867) Steins, a rare E-type asteroid. First images and data presented from the flyby, plus scientific commentary starting at 11:55 CEST on Saturday, September 6.  (For those of us in the U.S., that’s 5:55 a.m. EDT, 02:55 PDT.) If you’re up that early, check out the press conference, which will be streamed live. This should be interesting, and I can’t wait to post the real images here!