Ryugu, formally known as 162173Ryugu, is a 2850-foot (870-meter) wide near-Earth asteroid that lacks a protective atmosphere. This means its surface is directly exposed to space and can gather ...
In June 2018, Japan's Hayabusa 2 mission reached asteroid 162173Ryugu. It studied the asteroid for about 15 months, deploying small rovers and a lander, before gathering a sample and returning it ...
Microscope image of one of the small fragments of asteroid 162173Ryugu studied by scientists at the Advanced Photon Source. This fragment is roughly 400 microns in diameter, or about the width of ...
Snapping a series of pictures that revealed the asteroid’s shape. The asteroid of choice was 162173Ryugu, or Ryugu for short. In Japanese it refers to a magical, underwater Dragon Palace.