[meteorite-list] Hayabusa Images of Asteroid Itokawa: September 7-10, 2005
From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat Sep 10 23:50:07 2005 Message-ID: <200509110349.j8B3n0f06075_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0910.shtml Itokawa Image on September 9 JAXA September 10, 2005 Hayabusa continues approaching Itokawa, and its image is growing day by day. The left image is taken at 16:28 UTC on September 9 by the visible imager, AMICA. The distance from Hayabusa to Itokawa is approximately 70 km. The right image was obtained at 18:11 UTC on the day. Itokawa rotates about 50 degrees between left and right images, and the irregular shape of Itokawa is clearly seen. Some features such as craters are also seen in these images. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0908.shtml Hayabusa's Primary Visible Imager, AMICA now started its Test Observation JAXA September 8, 2005 Test Observation The exposure occurred during 15:10 - 15:15UTC on September 3rd, 2005, when Hayabusa completed its first half of deceleration maneuvers. The field of view of each picture above is 11.4 by 16.3 arc minutes. The vertical axis approximately coincides with the north direction of the ecliptic plane. Hayabusa carries the AMICA instrument that uses the Optical Navigation Camera sensor-head with the Filter Wheel consisting seven bands filters as well as one wide-band filter. What filter was used is annotated at lower-right in each picture. They are ul (380nm), b (420nm), v (540nm), w (700nm), x (860nm), p (940nm), zs (1,000nm) bands respectively. Hayabusa will perform the calibration observation using standard stars and plans to conclude Itokawa's spectral results soon. In addition to AMICA, Hayabusa performed its on-orbit health check of its Laser Altimeter (LIDAR) aboard, which detects the distance to Itokawa in order to trigger stop maneuver, when Hayabusa reaches the Gate Position box located 20 kilometers toward the Earth. The laser transmission test was successful. Hayabusa, on September 7th morning, is about 350 kilometers from Itokawa with the approach speed of still 7 kilometers per hour. Hayabusa will reach Itokawa almost one week ahead. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0909-2.shtml Itokawa Image on September 8 JAXA September 7, 2005 Hayabusa continues approaching Itokawa, and its image is growing day by day. The left image is taken at 16:15 UTC on September 8 by the visible imager, AMICA. The v-band (540nm) filter was used. The distance from Hayabusa to Itokawa is approximately 125 km. The right image was obtained via magnification, interpolation, sharpening and contrast emphasizing technique. The image is now under analysis of AMICA scientists. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/snews/2005/0907.shtml Hayabusa detects Itokawa's rotation JAXA September 7, 2005 This animated image is built from the twenty images taken between 18:10, 5 Sep and 0:30, 6 Sep (JST). Distance between Itokawa and Hayabusa is less than 700 kilometers at the start of imaging. In this time, Hayabusa was approaching Itokawa at approximately ten kilometers per hour. Itokawa's rotation period is known to be approximately 12 hours by ground-based observations. This animation shows about an half period of rotation. Rotational direction was found as expected. Received on Sat 10 Sep 2005 11:49:00 PM PDT |
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