Rosetta takes photos of asteroid Steins

I saw this on Euronews and went to the ESA site to see it, and there it is, an animation made with the photos taken by Rosetta of asteroid Steins.

The first images from Rosetta’s OSIRIS imaging system and VIRTIS infrared spectrometer were derived from raw data this morning and have delivered spectacular results.

"Steins looks like a diamond in the sky," said Uwe Keller, Principal Investigator for the OSIRIS imaging system from the Max Planck Institut Fuer Sonnensystemforschung, Lindau.

Visible in the image are several small craters on the asteroid, and two huge ones, one of which is 2 km in diameter, indicating that the asteroid must be very old.

The images are 50 to 60 pixels in diameter, enough to characterise the shape and other characteristics of the body of the asteroid.

Source

It's amazing that we can send a probe so near this type of celestial body, the people behind this project must be delighted with the results, I am sure I would be.

reply to post by ArMaP


Thanks for posting that Armap. Its a very interesting article. Im amazed at the level of detail that theya re able to get with that quipment, its fantastic to be able to see impact craters from collisions with other pieces of rock on the asteroid.

Star and Flag

Wow thanks for posting this ArMAP, I am just amazed at how much this type of images have improved.

A star and a flag for you.

[edit on 6-9-2008 by miguelbmx]

I think I saw an alien ruin sticking out of the dark crater on the top. I'll need to blow it up 1600% to make sure, though. Them aliens is everwhere.

[edit on 6-9-2008 by Nohup]

That animation was pretty amazing to watch, so thanks for bringing it to my attention, ArMaP.

And it DOES actually look like a diamond in the sky! What a fantastic, fascinating universe we live in.

Amazing I cant believe that we humans have advanced so much in technology, the asteroid looks beautiful with the sunlight falling head on. But why is the asteroid kind of circling in the animation, is that the orbital track of the asteroid or was the orbital track of rosetta like that.

[edit on 6-9-2008 by peacejet]