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Discoveries > Asteroids VI

ASTEROIDS : (951) GASPRA

 

 
Credit : NASA
The asteroid Gaspra as seen by the Galileo space probe in 1991. The colors have been boosted to increase the contrast.

During Gaspra's flyby in 1991, the Galileo probe revealed heterogeneities in composition to the surface of the asteroid (blue and red). 

Blue means the excavated material craters, fresh, therefore more primitive than the surrounding material (red) that have been "burned" by prolonged exposure to UV rays from the Sun.

Click here for an animation showing the approach to Gaspra by the Galileo spacecraft.

Credit : JPL/NASA