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Emily Lakdawalla • Sep 07, 2005

An animation of Itokawa from Hayabusa

This lovely animation of Itokawa represents 20 individual images taken between 18:10 on September 5 and 00:30 on September 6, from a distance of less than 700 kilometers away. The Hayabusa website says that the animation confirms ground-based estimates of its rotation rate, about once per 12 hours.

An animation of Itokawa from Hayabusa
An animation of Itokawa from Hayabusa This tiny animation of Itokawa represents 20 individual images taken between 18:10 on September 5 and 00:30 on September 6, 2005, from a distance of less than 700 kilometers away. The animation confirmed ground-based estimates of its rotation rate, about once per 12 hours.Image: ISAS / JAXA

Taki Hiroi, a researcher at Brown University, reports that Hayabusa will arrive at "Gate position," a point 20 kilometers from Itokawa, on September 12. Then, it will descend to a 7-kilometer distance, "Home position," from Sept 27 to 30.

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