(Text from ESA website)
‘Asteroid Lutetia has been revealed as a battered world of many craters. ESA’s Rosetta mission has returned the first close-up images of the asteroid showing it is most probably a primitive survivor from the violent birth of the Solar System.’
‘The flyby has been a spectacular success with Rosetta performing faultlessly. Closest approach took place at 2:10am AEST this morning (time changed to AEST) , at a distance of 3162 km’
The images show that Lutetia is heavily cratered, having suffered many impacts during its 4.5 billion years of existence. As Rosetta drew close, a giant bowl-shaped depression stretching across much of the asteroid rotated into view. The images confirm that Lutetia is an elongated body, with its longest side around 130km.’
More pictures can be found here.
