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AKARI’s observations of asteroid Itokawa

23 August 2007

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The asteroid Itokawa was observed by the Infrared Camera (IRC) onboard AKARI at 7 micrometres on 26 July 2007.

The above image is a composite of three images from the data showing the motion of Itokawa over 12 minutes. The image covers an area of roughly 7.4 arcminutes x 7.4 arcminutes around the target. The Hayabusa spacecraft itself was too faint to be detected.

Credits: JAXA

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Credits: JAXA

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This figure shows the positions of Itokawa and the Earth at the time of the observation (July 26th, 2007). 1 AU, or Astronomical Unit is the distance from Earth to the Sun, equal to 150 million km.

The planets and the asteroid Itokawa move along their orbits in the direction indicated. After three orbits for Earth and two orbits for Hayabusa, the asteroid explorer will arrive back at Earth in June 2010.

Credits: JAXA

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