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Hayabusa's navigation camera photographed the "Itokawa"
The asteroid explorer "Hayabusa" is flying smoothly toward the asteroid "Itokawa" and is expected to arrive in mid September.
We have already released a photo of the Itokawa taken by the Hayabusa onboard star tracker on August 15, but another onboard camera, the thin optical navigation camera (ONC-T) also successfully took a photo.
Photos taken on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24 are superimposed so that you can see the movement in comparison with a fixed star in the back.
The distance between the Hayabusa and the Itokawa at the time of the photo was less than 10,000 km, and it is about 330 million kilometers from earth.
1.Image of Asteroid Itokawa taken by HAYABUSA's ONC-T on Aug.23
2.Image of Asteroid Itokawa taken by HAYABUSA's ONC-T on Aug.24
Itokawa Ioci exposed with optically navigated trajectory
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August 26, 2005