[meteorite-list] Asteroid Steins' Hidden Gems (Rosetta)

From: John Lutzon <jl_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2013 13:58:12 -0500
Message-ID: <4B3970CB920D4DFA8A87FA0C81BFAB44_at_Home>

Hi Ron,

Now, that's impressive.

John

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Baalke" <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>
To: "Meteorite Mailing List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 1:50 PM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Asteroid Steins' Hidden Gems (Rosetta)



http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Asteroid_Steins_hidden_gems

Asteroid Steins' hidden gems
European Space Agency
18 February 2013

ESA's Rosetta spacecraft snapped images of asteroid Steins as it
flew by the diamond-shaped asteroid on 5 September 2008
<http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Steins_A_diamond_in_the_sky>,
revealing a tiny world with a big history of collisions.

The images were taken by Rosetta's Wide Angle Camera as the
spacecraft flew within 800 km of the 5 km-wide asteroid, and later
processed by amateur astronomer Ted Stryk to produce the image
presented here.

By emphasising the shadows, the processing reveals high-contrast
features, such as bright crater rims against their dark, shadowed
interiors. However, this technique can also create some artifacts,
such as the illusion of boulders protruding from the surface, that
are not present in the raw data
<http://www.sciops.esa.int/index.php?project=PSA&page=rosetta>.

One striking feature is the gaping hole at the south pole (top in
this image) of Steins - its largest impact crater at about 2 km
wide and nearly 300 m deep. This crater is named "Diamond"
following the gem nomenclature chosen after the asteroid's overall
shape earned it the nickname "diamond in the sky".

The circular crater in the centre of the asteroid as seen in this
viewing angle is called Topaz and is about 650 m wide and 80 m deep.

A chain of several craters can be seen stretching from the
asteroid's north pole (bottom in this image) right up to Diamond
crater.

So far, around 40 craters have been found, but the imposing
Diamond crater likely influenced the appearance of the entire
asteroid because the debris thrown out from this dramatic
collision would have scattered over the surface, imprinting over
other, older craters.

Rosetta has since passed by asteroid Lutetia in July 2010 and is now
in deep-space hibernation. It will wake up on 20 January 2014 and
rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014. A few
months later, its Philae probe will separate to make the first
controlled landing on a comet.

Comets are considered to be the primitive building blocks of the
Solar System, and Rosetta will help scientists to learn more about
their role in the evolution of our local cosmic neighbourhood.

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Received on Tue 19 Feb 2013 01:58:12 PM PST