Asteroids and comets in a single image

2010/08/03 Aulestiarte Lete, Izaro - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Astronomia

The image above shows images of all asteroids and comets obtained to date through spacecraft. The photographic montage has been made by the planetary scientist Emily Lakdawalla, who has gathered four comets and nine asteroids. For the realization of the montage, the author has taken into account the actual measurements of all of them, which allows visually detect the difference between them.

Lutecia is much more asteroid than all. On 10 July, the Rosetta probe of the European Space Agency ESA passed by, and at that moment the first images correspond that show that the surface of the Lutecia is covered with craters. The ESA also reported that it has a length of 132 kilometers due to its elongation.

Well, Lutezia has a highlight on its left edge (more or less in the center) and next to it is the smallest image of the image. This weak point, difficult to detect at first sight, is precisely the asteroid Itokawa, with a length of 0.5 kilometers.

Emily Lakdawalla announces her intention to update the photo montage. If the forecasts are met, the NASA spacecraft Deep Impact will approach comet Hartley 2 next November. And the Stardust probe is second in February 2011 in front of Comet Tempel 1. Among other things, I would like to add to the montage the images obtained in both cases.

Photos: Photos NASA/ESA/JAXA/Russian Academy of Sciences.

Mounting: R. Lakdawalla, The Planetary Society.