Some interesting news just popped up. I'd forgotten about JAXA's Hayabusa 2 probe launched a few years ago; it's now in final approach to the small Earth-crossing asteroid Ryugu, and scheduled to go into orbit on Wednesday 27th.
That final photo at 40 km is spectacular; lots of severely eroded craters, lots and lots of small rocks (Ryugu is about half a mile across, so those little blobs aren't really all that big), and what looks like a big crater at the pole with something shiny inside. Possibly ice, protected from the sun by the shadow of the crater rim.
Time for some SCIENCE!!!
“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel — merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
Well, it wouldn't be proper SCIENCE!!! without at least one little 'splosion...
I don't think there are any new photos released yet, all I've found so far is the one at 40 km from a couple of days ago, at the Ryugu wikipedia page and the JAXA twitter feed. The probe's now at its initial parking spot (can we call it an "orbit" for such a tiny mass?) of 20 km. Looking forward to better data in the next few days and weeks.
“Despite rumor, Death isn't cruel — merely terribly, terribly good at his job.”
Terry Pratchett, Sourcery
