Spacecraft captures images of asteroid

In Pictures

The European spacecraft Rosetta has performed a fly-by of a massive asteroid hurtling through the solar system. [ESA]

Rosetta took a series of photos as the giant rock, which measures 134km in diameter, approached it, passing within 3,200km of the spacecraft. [ESA]

Scientists are now analysing the photographs in an effort to understand more about asteroids. The information they gather could one day help the Earth defend itself from possible destruction. [ESA]

Lutetia orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, about half a million kilometres from Earth. [ESA]

The giant rock is scarred with craters from collisions with smaller asteroids. [ESA]

In this image, Lutetia is seen with the ringed planet Saturn in the background. Rosetta will continue on its mission to meet up with a distant comet in 2014. [ESA]

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