JAXA Releases Photo of Asteroid Torifune Taken by Hayabusa2

Tokyo, July 6 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, on Monday released a photo of Torifune that was taken by Hayabusa2 at close range when the unmanned probe flew past the asteroid the previous day.

The photo was taken just a second before the scheduled time of Hayabusa2's closest approach to the asteroid. When the picture was taken, the distance between Hayabusa2 and Torifune was believed to be only a few hundred meters. The national space agency will identify the exact distance in a future analysis.

The picture captured details of Torifune that may provide clues to the asteroid's origin, such as the locations of rocks on the surface.

The control technology that enabled the probe's close flyby is expected to aid planetary defense, or the protection of Earth from potential asteroid collisions.

"I can't forget how shocked I was when I saw the image," Yuya Mimasu, who heads JAXA's Hayabusa2 extended mission team, told a press conference. "I was in awe about the fact that Hayabusa2 took such a good picture in a fleeting moment of the flyby," he said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]