This is an interactive viewer application that can be used to visualise and explore a selection
of small asteroids and moons in the Solar system that have been mapped out in
three dimensions by remote sensing spacecraft. Follow the instructions below to get started.
Note: a WebGL-enabled browser (such as Chrome) is required for this page to function.
Instructions
•Drag with the left mouse button to rotate the body.
•Drag with the right mouse button to move the light.
•Use the middle mouse button to zoom in and out.
This page will not function properly on a touchscreen device.
Available bodies
Click the buttons below to load different bodies. These cover a range of asteroids and small moons.
Warning: these are 20MB files and may take a while to load.
More information
The shape models for the small bodies are in Implicitly Connected Quadrilateral
format and are available from NASA via the PDS Small Bodies Node.
The shape models have been derived using
stereophotoclinometry
techniques applied to imaging data taken by a range of solar system exploration missions, including
Cassini, Voyager, NEAR-Shoemaker and Hayabusa.
These are the highest resolution global topography models available, and have 1.57 million vertices each.