Key facts
- Category
- Asteroids
- Object class
- E-type main-belt asteroid
- Scale fact
- 6.83 kmmaximum extent
- Composition
- Iron-poor silicate rock
6.83 kmmaximum extent
Details
Šteins is a small E-type asteroid in the main belt, shaped like a cut diamond. ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft flew past it in 2008 and revealed a body topped by a surprisingly large impact crater.
Rosetta passed within about 800 kilometers of Šteins on 5 September 2008. Its images measured a diamond-like body roughly five kilometers wide, dominated at one end by the two-kilometer Diamond crater. A chain of seven smaller craters runs across its surface.
Key facts
Links
Size neighbors
On the logarithmic size axis, 2867 Šteins falls between 5535 Annefrank and 9P/Tempel 1. Compared below with other objects in Asteroids.
Sources
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, write to hello@scaleofspace.org.
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.