Posted on 10/26/2002 9:32:25 PM PDT by petuniasevan
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: 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 Fun Fact:
Gaspra in Color
This picture of Gaspra is a combination of the highest-resolution images and color information obtained by the Galileo spacecraft. The Sun is shining from the right. The subtle color variations on Gaspra's surface have been exaggerated. Albedo and color variations are associated with surface topography. The bluish areas are regions of slightly higher albedo and tend to be associated with some of the crisper craters and with ridges. The slightly reddish areas, apparently concentrated in low areas, represent regions of somewhat lower albedo. In general, such patterns can be explained in terms of greater exposure of fresher rock in the brighter bluish areas and the accumulation of some regolith materials in the darker reddish areas. (Courtesy USGS/NASA/JPL)
Thanks for the ping!
Chiron seems to be a Kuiper Belt Object; one of the first discovered.
Some astronomers think it's a massive comet instead.
This link is NASA's fact page on object Chiron. There is a link on the page to numerous images.
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