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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

OSIRIS WAC view of Steins flyby

OSIRIS WAC view of Steins flyby
OSIRIS WAC view of Steins flyby The wide-angle camera on Rosetta snapped photos of Steins throughout its 800-kilometer flyby on September 6, 2008. The animation begins three minutes before closest approach, from a distance of about 2,000 kilometers, and ends four minutes after closest approach. At the start of the animation, the Sun illuminated the asteroid from directly behind the spacecraft, so no shadows are visible on its surface, which shines brilliantly. As the flyby continued, the spacecraft viewed it from increasingly higher phase angles, making the asteroid appear darker and bringing more surface features into view through topographic shading. ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA