We discovered tonight a new world. It's the largest asteroid ever seen by human and it's really, really exciting. It's so cool. 

 

Though it has been observed before by ground-based telescopes, astronomers and graphic artists have imagined its shape and no one is sure of what it's made of or it's origin. The Lutetia asteroid is estimated to be about 80 miles long at its longest side. It's very old, perhaps 4.5 billion years of age and shows signs of its wear, sporting lots of craters

 

We saw really great craters of 70 kilometers size. They are like a bowl. They are so large, so huge and they are covered. So, most of them, of the larger craters, they have very a round rim, so they are very, very old craters. So, it's a worth discovery. So, we have a lot of large craters, tons of old craters, tons of small craters, even small craters in the large craters. So, it's a lot of topography, a lot of excitement. We don't understand right now and it will keep us busy for months and years working these images. 

 

ESA's probe made its flyby Saturday, capping a tense weekend for scientists at the agency's Darmstadt Germany operation center who have guided the Rosetta spacecraft since its launch more than 6 years ago. They will spend several weeks receiving transmission of the 400 images of Lutetia it captures.