21 Lutetia is a large M-type asteroid located in the main asteroid belt (MAB).  It was was discovered in 1852 by Hermann Goldschmidt, and is named after Lutetia, the Latin name of Paris.  It has dimensions 121 × 101 × 75 km, a rotation period of 8.17 hr, and an orbit semi-major axis distance of 2.435 AU.  On July 10, 2010, the ESA Rosetta spacecraft flew by Lutetia at a closest approach distance of about 3170 km and a relative speed of about 15 km/s, on its way to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

21 Lutetia

The Rosetta mission was launched on March 2, 2004. It was to do a detailed study of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It was the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, and to have a lander on a comet.

INTERNATIONAL ROSETTA MISSION

This mission has moved to urn:esa:psa:context:investigation:mission.international_rosetta_mission

21 Lutetia Information Page

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