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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of December 2012, in color, excepting Vesta [DEPRECATED]

Asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of December 2012, in color, excepting Vesta [DEPRECATED]
Asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of December 2012, in color, excepting Vesta [DEPRECATED] NOTE: This image is now deprecated. An updated version with comet 67P is available here.
A montage of 16 of the 17 asteroids and comets that have been photographed up close as of December 2012, when Chang'E 2 flew past Toutatis. This version is in color and shows the bodies at their correct relative (though not absolute) albedo or brightness. Not included is Vesta, which would cover an area about three times the width and height of this montage. Montage by Emily Lakdawalla. Data from NASA / JPL / JHUAPL / UMD / JAXA / ESA / OSIRIS team / Russian Academy of Sciences / China National Space Agency. Processed by Emily Lakdawalla, Daniel Machacek, Ted Stryk, Gordan Ugarkovic.

The "click to enlarge" version has a resolution of 100 meters per pixel. Here is a version at 20 meters per pixel.

Below is another version of the same montage, except that the albedo is linearly scaled, meaning that Borrelly (with an albedo of 0.03) really is ten dimes darker than Steins (albedo 0.34). (Also available at 20 m/pixel)

All asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of August 2014, in color, albedo linearly scaled
All asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft as of August 2014, in color, albedo linearly scaled Image: Montage by Emily Lakdawalla. Ida, Dactyl, Braille, Annefrank, Gaspra, Borrelly: NASA / JPL / Ted Stryk. Steins: ESA / OSIRIS team. Eros: NASA / JHUAPL. Itokawa: ISAS / JAXA / Emily Lakdawalla. Mathilde: NASA / JHUAPL / Ted Stryk. Lutetia: ESA / OSIRIS team / Emily Lakdawalla. Halley: Russian Academy of Sciences / Ted Stryk. Tempel 1, Hartley 2: NASA / JPL / UMD. Wild 2: NASA / JPL.

Color images were not actually available for all bodies. There have been color images of Lutetia, Ida, Dactyl, Itokawa, Steins, Toutatis, Gaspra, Eros, Mathilde, Tempel 1, and Hartley 2. The others, including Braille, Annefrank, Halley, Borrelly, and Wild 2, were given a brown color to match the others.

Albedoes used for the composite:

Itokawa: 0.53
Steins: 0.34
Braille: 0.34
Eros: 0.25
Ida: 0.23
Dactyl: 0.23
Gaspra: 0.22
Annefrank: 0.21
Lutetia: 0.19
Toutatis: 0.13
Mathilde: 0.0436
Halley: 0.04
Tempel 1: 0.04
Borrelly: 0.03
Wild 2: 0.03
Hartley 2: 0.028