Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


Lutetia: The Largest Asteroid Yet Visited
<< Yesterday 26.07.2010 Tomorrow >>
Lutetia: The Largest Asteroid Yet Visited
Credit & Copyright: ESA, NASA, JAXA; Montage: Emily Lakdawalla (Planetary Society)
Explanation: As humans explore the universe, the record for largest asteroid visited by a spacecraft has increased yet again. Earlier this month, 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. Although of unknown composition, Lutetia is not massive enough for gravity to pull it into a sphere. Pictured above on the upper right, the 100-kilometer across Lutetia is shown in comparison with the other nine asteroids and four comets that have been visited, so far, by human-launched spacecraft. Orbiting in the main asteroid belt, Lutetia shows itself to be a heavily cratered remnant of the early Solar System. The Rosetta spacecraft is now continuing onto comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko where a landing is planned for 2014.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < July 2010  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su



1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
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:
All publications on this topic >>