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Emily Lakdawalla • Sep 06, 2008

First Rosetta images of Steins

I won't take time to comment on these now as I'd really like to get back to bed for a couple hours' sleep...but here's some of the first images of Steins!

Asteroid (2867) Steins

ESA ©2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / RSSD / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA

Asteroid (2867) Steins
Some of the images captured by the OSIRIS wide-angle camera near the closest approach of the Rosetta spacecraft to Steins on September 5, 2008. Closest approach happened at 20:38:20 UTC, from a distance of 800 kilometers. The diameter of the asteroid was found to be slightly larger than predicted at 5.9 by 4.0 kilometers, and its albedo was about 35 percent.