Post

Paul Byrne
@theplanetaryguy.com

This image was taken by the MASCOT lander on the surface of the asteroid Ryugu on 3 October 2018, using LEDs to illuminate the local surface. The field of view in the middle ground is approximately 30 cm. MASCOT was deployed by the JAXA Hayabusa-2 spacecraft. Credit: MASCOT/DLR/JAXA

bjkeefe
@bjkeefe.bsky.social

>> The field of view in the middle ground is approximately 30 cm. Would you explain that, please. Do you mean that what we see in the middle ground is ~30 cm wide, image edge to edge? Or something else. Thanks in advance.

gifboards of canada
@tamriilin.bsky.social

That's pretty much correct yes. The lander itself was about the size of a shoebox. The funny thing about it is because of its size, it was essentially dropped onto the asteroid, where it bounced several times before coming to a rest and taking a bunch of photos over the course of 18 hours or so.