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Asteroid Steins from Rosetta's flyby in 2008

Asteroid Steins from Rosetta's flyby in 2008
Asteroid Steins from Rosetta's flyby in 2008 A montage of images of asteroid Steins from Rosetta's flyby in 2008. In the first image (top left corner), the asteroid was was right ahead of Rosetta while the Sun was at the spacecraft's back. In this configuration, with the phase angle close to zero, the 'opposition surge' effect is evident: the asteroid appears very bright and hardly any shadows are cast. In the following images, as the spacecraft moved and the phase angle increased, the overall brightness is lower but shadows are present, revealing more features on the surface of the asteroid. ESA 2008 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / RSSD / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA