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ASTERIA Image of Los Angeles 2

May 16, 2019
This image of the greater Los Angeles area was taken on March 29, 2019, by ASTERIA, the Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics satellite. It shows a region of about 43.5 square miles with a resolution of about 100 feet per pixel.

This image of the greater Los Angeles area was taken on March 29, 2019 by ASTERIA, the Arcsecond Space Telescope Enabling Research in Astrophysics satellite. It shows a region of about 43.5 square miles (70 square kilometers) with a resolution of about 100 feet (30 meters) per pixel.

A bright spot near the center of the image marks the location of Dodger Stadium. (The Dodgers played the Arizona Diamondbacks at home that night.) To the northeast, near the darkness of the San Gabriel Mountains, is NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which built and operates ASTERIA, and the nearby Rose Bowl Stadium. The close-cropped image shows a region of about 43.5 square miles (70 square kilometers) with a resolution of about 100 feet (30 meters) per pixel.

ASTERIA is a CubeSat, or a small satellite composed of cube units that measure 10 centimeters (4.5 inches) on each side. ASTERIA was designed to demonstrate precision pointing technology in a CubeSat, which could be used to observe planets around other stars. A slight decrease in a star's brightness as detected by ASTERIA could indicate that a planet is orbiting the star and passed in front of the star. This is called a planet transit.

After completing its primary mission objectives in January 2018, ASTERIA has continued to operate on an extended mission. The mission team took this image to further test the capabilities of the satellite.

For more information about CubeSat see www.jpl.nasa.gov/cubesat/.

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