Hera's first images (Asteroid Framing Camera)

Hera’s Asteroid Framing Camera (AFC) captured this farewell image of Earth (bottom left) and the Moon (centre) on 11 October from a distance of approximately 1.6 million km. Earth is oriented with north pointing upwards, with the Pacific Ocean illuminated by the Sun.

Incorporating two baffle-protected cameras for redundancy, each of Hera’s two Asteroid Framing Cameras is a 1020x1020 monochrome visible light sensor. The cameras are used both for navigation and for scientific investigation and were produced by Jena-Optronik in Germany, based on its ASTROhead design.