Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft conducted a close flyby of asteroid Torifune, a 450-meter-wide near-Earth object about 100 million kilometers from Earth.

During the pass, it captured detailed optical and infrared images, revealing differences in surface temperature between sunlit and shadowed regions.

The flyby, which was not part of the original mission, was considered risky due to limited knowledge of the asteroid.

Hayabusa2 has already achieved major milestones, including returning samples from asteroid Ryugu to Earth in 2020, Space.com has reported.

The probe will continue its extended mission and is scheduled to visit another asteroid, 1998 KY26, in 2031.