TopicsRyugu surface imaged at highest
resolution so far

When Hayabusa2 descended towards Ryugu for the MINERVA-II1 deployment operation, the ONC-T (Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic) captured images at the highest resolution to date.


  • [Open in another window]
    Figure 1. Image of Ryugu captured by the ONC-T at an altitude of about 64m. Image was taken on September 21, 2018 at around 13:04 JST.This is the highest resolution photograph obtained of the surface of Ryugu. Bottom left is a large boulder. (Image credit※: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST).
This next figure shows the location of Figure 1 on Ryugu.

  • [Open in another window]
    Figure 2. Region of the highest resolution image. Yellow boxes correspond to the region in Figure 1. (Left) The region is shown on the ONC-T global image of Ryugu. (Right) ONC-W1 image, taken at 70 m height. 2018-09-21 13:02(JST). (Image credit※: JAXA, University of Tokyo, Kochi University, Rikkyo University, Nagoya University, Chiba Institute of Technology, Meiji University, Aizu University, AIST).
Note: Highest resolution image obtained by Hayabusa

  • [Open in another window]
    Figure 3. High resolution image of the surface of asteroid Itokawa photographed by Hayabusa. "D" is taken from an altitude of 63m. It is thought that the so-called "Muses Sea" (official name "MUSES-C Regio") is covered with a "gravel" of granules with diameters from a few mm to few cm.
    (From Yano et al, Science Vol 312 2, June 2006)

Hayabusa2 project
2018.09.27



※ Please use the displayed credit when reproducing these images. In the case where an abbreviated form is necessary, please write "JAXA, University of Tokyo & collaborators".