doi.eso.org

• Marsset, Michaël [Astrophysics Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast, UK]
• Carry, Benoit [Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Laboratoire Lagrange, CNRS, France; IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, Université Lille, France]
• Pajuelo, Myriam [Université Côte d’Azur, Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Laboratoire Lagrange, CNRS, France; IMCCE, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Université Paris 06, Université Lille, France]
• Viikinkoski, Matti [Department of Mathematics, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland]
• Hanuš, Josef [Astronomical Institute, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic]
• Vernazza, Pierre [Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille, France]
• Dumas, Christophe [Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Observatory, Pasadena, USA]
• Yang, Bin [European Southern Observatory (ESO)]

The Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument has unveiled unprecedented details of the three-dimensional shape, surface topography and cratering record of four medium-sized (~ 200 km) asteroids, opening the prospect of a new era of ground-based exploration of the asteroid belt. Although two of the targets, (130) Elektra and (107) Camilla, have been observed extensively for more than fifteen years by the first-generation adaptive optics imagers, two new moonlets were discovered around these targets, illustrating the unique power of SPHERE. In the next two years SPHERE will continue to collect high- angular-resolution and high-contrast measurements of about 40 asteroids. These observations of a large number of asteroids will provide a unique dataset to better understand the collisional history and multiplicity rate of the asteroid belt.