First Results from the Rosetta Asteroid Steins Fly-by Observed by OSIRIS and VIRTIS

Details First Results from the Rosetta Asteroid Steins Fly-by Observed by OSIRIS and VIRTIS First Results from the Rosetta Asteroid Steins Fly-by Observed by OSIRIS and VIRTIS

Jan 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....40.6010k&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #40, #60.10; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.564

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

On Sep 5th 2008 the ESA Rosetta spacecraft made a close fly-by of the E-type asteroid (2867) Steins. During the fly-by the asteroid was observed with the OSIRIS camera system and the VIRTIS infrared imaging spectrometer. OSIRIS is composed of a wide-angle (100um resolution) imager and a narrow angle (18.7um resolution) imager. VIRTIS is an instrument that combines imaging and spectrometry in the Vis and IR (0.25-5um), through a slit spectrometer(VIRTIS-M) with a high resolution IR channel (VIRTIS-H).
Rosetta passed through zero phase angle shortly before CA provided the opportunity to determine the geometric albedo and the phase function of the asteroid. High spatial resolution hyperspectral images were obtained by VIRTIS. The high albedo of the E-type asteroid is confirmed. The spectrum of Steins was observed using a complement of 23 OSIRIS filters from 245 to 1000 nm and VIRTIS spectra. The spectrum is in good agreement with published telescopic spectra in the visible and shows a strong drop off in the UV below 400 nm.
Images around CA show the asteroid surface on a scale of 80 m per pixel. The dimensions of Steins are 4.0 km along its spin axis and 5.9 km in the perpendicular direction. A shape model will be presented. The appearance of the body is dominated by a large crater (diameter 2 km) at the northern pole. From there a chain of 7 craters (catenae) extends across the surface visible during the fly-by. More than 20 craters with diameters > 0.2 km can be counted. First results of a photometric model based on detailed topography are expected.

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