(((Actually Europe's second encounter with an asteroid, if you count that other time when an asteroid fried all the dinosaurs in Europe.)))
(((I always get interested when Europeans claim that "Europe"
has done something grand, as Europe doesn't even have, like, an Olympic team.)))
http://www.planetary.org/news/2008/0909_Rosetta_Unearths_a_Jewel_of_the_Solar.html
Link: Rosetta Unearths a "Jewel of the Solar System" - Planetary News | The Planetary Society.
"Europe has had its first encounter with an asteroid" was the triumphant announcement made Saturday by Rita Schultz, project scientist for ESA's Rosetta mission. "We can now increase the number of asteroids that have been visited from seven to eight." The newly observed asteroid is (2867) Šteins. At roughly 5 kilometers (8 miles) in diameter, Šteins is a relatively small body. In the first images that resolved its shape, it appeared like a brilliant-cut gem, prompting the camera team's principal investigator, H. Uwe Keller, to pronounce it "a jewel of the solar system."
The flyby saw many other "firsts" for ESA. Of particular importance was the first use of autonomous tracking of a target using optical navigation...(((and at this point we begin Euro-space geeking-out in spectacular fashion and ramble on for a couple of highly technical pages.)))
Europe bags some imagery:
(((Practically every piece of ancient rocky space junk as yet seen by the human race:)))
