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TOKYO: Rare images taken by a Japanese space probe during a flyby of a near-Earth asteroid have revealed that the space rock resembled a snowman, scientists said on Monday.
The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 skimmed asteroid Torifune on Sunday in a mission that demonstrated the ability to deflect a potentially dangerous space rock away from Earth.
A new image released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on Monday could aid such efforts, as researchers say near-Earth asteroids vary in their size, shape and surface characteristics.
“The moment I actually saw this image and the scientific data — it really gave me goosebumps,” JAXA scientist Yuya Mimasu told reporters, adding the asteroid “personally looked like a snowman”.
