JAXA releases close Hayabusa2 view of snowman-shaped Torifune
JAXA says the probe swept within a few hundred metres of the rocky asteroid, capturing data that could aid origin studies and planetary defence.
- Japan's space agency, JAXA, has released a close-up image of the asteroid Torifune, taken by its Hayabusa2 probe during a recent flyby.
- The photograph reveals Torifune has a "snowman-like" shape, suggesting it was formed by the merger of two smaller celestial bodies.
- The image was captured from a distance of only a few hundred metres as the probe passed the asteroid at a relative speed of 5 kilometres per second.
- In addition to the image, the probe gathered data that will be used for asteroid research and to support planetary defense efforts.
Japan’s space agency has released a close-range image of Torifune after its uncrewed Hayabusa2 probe raced past the asteroid on Sunday, in a flyby expected to help both asteroid research and planetary defence.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, published the photograph on Monday (July 6).
It said the shot was taken one second before the scheduled closest approach, when Hayabusa2 was believed to have been only a few hundred metres from Torifune.
The agency will determine the exact distance in a later analysis.
The image shows a snowman-like body covered with many rocks.
Details, including the positions of surface boulders, could offer clues to Torifune’s origin, while its shape indicates it may have formed when two small celestial bodies collided and then merged.
Yuya Mimasu, head of JAXA’s Hayabusa2 extended mission team, said at a press conference that the image had left a deep impression.
“I can't forget how shocked I was when I saw the image,” he said.
“I was in awe about the fact that Hayabusa2 took such a good picture in a fleeting moment of the flyby.”
Torifune is a rocky asteroid thought to resemble Itokawa, the asteroid sampled by the first Hayabusa probe.
It is estimated to be 800 metres long and is currently about 100 million kilometres from Earth.
At around 6.30pm on Sunday, Japan time, Hayabusa2 passed a few hundred metres from Torifune’s surface at a relative speed of 5 kilometres per second.
In addition to taking photographs, the probe successfully gathered readings with instruments including an infrared camera and a spectrometer.
The data will be transmitted back to Earth in stages.
JAXA expects the high-precision control technology behind the close flyby to support planetary defence, the effort to protect Earth from possible asteroid impacts.
Hayabusa2 was launched in 2014.
It later collected sand and other material from Ryugu and delivered a capsule carrying the samples to Earth in December 2020.
After the Torifune observation, the probe will continue its extended mission towards its next target, asteroid 1998 KY26, which it aims to reach in July 2031.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
