Asteroid Gaspra's Best Face

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 2002-10-27 · NASA (public domain)

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Asteroid Gaspra's Best Face — APOD for 2002-10-27

Asteroid 951 Gaspra is a huge rock tumbling in space. Gaspra became one of the best-studied asteroids in 1991 when the spacecraft Galileo flew by. In the above photograph , subtle color variations have been exaggerated to highlight changes in reflectivity, surface structure and composition. Gaspra is about 20 kilometers long and orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter .

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2002-10-27 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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