Press Release

Encounter of a different kind: Rosetta observes asteroid at close quarters

By SpaceRef Editor
September 6, 2008
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Encounter of a different kind: Rosetta observes asteroid at close quarters
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ESA’s comet chaser, Rosetta, last night flew by a small body in the main asteroid belt, asteroid Steins, collecting a wealth of information about this rare type of minor Solar System body.

At 20:58 CEST (18:58 UT) last night, ESA’s Rosetta probe approached asteroid 2867 Steins, coming to within a distance of only 800 km from it. Steins is Rosetta’s first nominal scientific target in its 11

SpaceRef staff editor.