Comet-Chasing Rosetta Spacecraft Gets an Up-Close Look at Asteroid Lutetia [Slide Show]

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is doing a little sightseeing on its decadelong cruise through the inner solar system and beyond. Rosetta (launched in 2004) will not reach its primary target, Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko, until 2014 , but in the meantime it has been checking up on some of the denizens of the Asteroid Belt . In 2008 the probe buzzed Asteroid Steins at a distance of just 800 kilometers, and in July of this year Rosetta swung past the much larger Asteroid Lutetia at a distance of 3,160 kilometers. [More]

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