Rosetta Captures Asteroid Steins

This sequence of images were taken with Rosetta’s OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera during the fly-by of September 5, 2008. The image sequence starts 3 minutes before closest approach, from a distance of about 2000 km and ends 4 minutes after closest approach. At the start of the animation, the Sun illuminated the asteroid from behind the spacecraft and no shadows are visible on its surface. Later, the sunlight is incident from the left, and craters and more surface features become visible. Credit: ESA