TheRosetta probeThe European Space Agency (ESA) approached the asteroid Lutetia last Saturday afternoon, executing a spectacular and precise automatic maneuver at just3,162 kilometers away. In this way, we have been able to see thecratered surfacefrom the asteroid Lutetia, which reveals that it has receivedmultiple impacts during its 4.5 billion years of existence. In addition, during the approach the rotation of the asteroid showed a great depression that extends over much of the surface of Lutetia, which has an elongated shape, with a length of approximately 130 kilometers. The crossing between the two bodies took place at a speed of about 15 kilometers per second.
Asteroids are primitive bodies in the solar system that contain the original information in different stages of evolution. In particular, Lutetia had remained shrouded in mystery for many years, as the telescopes displayed contradictory characteristics: in some respects it appeared to be a ‘C-type’ asteroid, a fossil from the creation of the Solar System; in others it could be an ‘M-type’ object. The latter are related to iron meteorites, have a reddish hue and are believed to be the remains of the nucleus of larger objects.
“We believe thatLutetia is a very old object. Tonight we have seena relic of the creation of our Solar System“said Holger Sierks, principal investigator of theOSIRIS instrument, used to capture images of the asteroid. Everything points to the fact that Lutetia is one of the few survivors of the violent birth of the Solar System.
