Asteroid photo session

Having snapped this incredible picture of the asteroid Lutetia, Rosetta will now fall back to slumber for the next four years until a 2014 encounter with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, on which it will attempt a landing.

In the meantime, the craft's science instruments got a work out examining this 100 Km wide asteroid, believed to be composed of metal.

Wayne

Photo credit: ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA