The giant asteroid Vesta is revealing more of itself to the US space agency's (Nasa) Dawn mission.
The probe has beamed back further images since entering into orbit around the 530km-wide rock on 17 July.
Dawn took the latest batch as it was travelling from the day side to the night side of Vesta.
The different lighting conditions provide scientists with additional information about the varied features on the rock's pockmarked surface.
As Dawn circles its target, so the asteroid itself turn on its axis. The rock rotates once every five hours and 20 minutes.
Dawn will spend a year studying Vesta before moving on to the biggest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter - the dwarf planet Ceres.
Already, though, there is much to excite those interested in the Solar System's minor planetary bodies.
Dawn's principal investigator says he has been surprised by the number and size of the impact craters on Vesta - there are far more of them and they are much bigger than he had expected before the mission set out.
And in a tantalising trailer of pictures yet to be released, Professor Chris Russell, from the University of California Los Angeles told the BBC this week: "The surface is much more colourful; the colours are deeper than they are on the [Earth's] Moon.
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