Japan’s Hayabusa2 probe, traveling through space alongside the Ryugu asteroid 174 million miles (280 million kilometers) from Earth, caught a glimpse of itself as it dropped its most recent payload, a German-French lander.
Last month, the probe dropped two MINERVA-II (Micro Nano Experimental Robot Vehicle for Asteroid) rovers on the surface of the asteroid, which will take images with onboard cameras and collect samples.
The image beamed back on yesterday (Oct. 3) showed the Hayabusa2 catching its owns shadow as it deployed the MASCOT (Mobile Asteroid Surface Scout) lander.
MASCOT also caught a glimpse of itself while descending (check the top right corner):