William Atkins
Saturday, 06 September 2008 22:08
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
The European Space Agency spacecraft Rosetta made a successful flyby of Asteroid 2867 Šteins at approximately 18:58 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on Friday, September 5, 2008, coming within 500 miles (800 kilometers) of the asteroid.
Equivalent times for the encounter include 8:58 p.m. CEST (Central Europe Summer Time), and 1:58 p.m. Central Daylight Time (CDT).
The images from
Rosetta were transmitted to its ESA ground control team at the European Space Operations Centre (
ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany. Confirmation of the successful “close encounter” with the asteroid came to the ESOC facility at 10:14 p.m. CEST when it received its first telemetry from the spacecraft.
According to the ESA news release
“During the flyby operations, Rosetta was out of reach as regards communication links because its antenna had to be turned away from Earth.... the radio signal from the probe took 20 minutes to reach the ground.” [ESA: “
Encounter of a different kind: Rosetta observes asteroid at close quarters”]
The 2867 Šteins asteroid is the first target that Rosetta has encountered so far in its 11.5-year mission. Its ultimate destination, in 2014, is to eject a probe so that it can attempt a soft landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. If successful, the probe will investigate the nucleus of the comet.
The Šteins asteroid is a small main-belt asteroid with a rotational period of about six hours and an irregular shape. Russian astronomer Nikolay Stepanovich Chernykh discovered it in 1969. It is named after Latvian astronomer Kārlis Šteins.
Where in the solar system did Rosetta encounter Asteroid Šteins? Please read page two.
