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Gaspra was the first ever asteroid to be observed in detail when the Galileo probe undertook a fly-by in 1991. It is a highly-cratered, irregularly-shaped lump of rock travelling around the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is probably the fragment of a much larger body.
The installation has been designed by artist Graham Bennett and pupils of William Hulme’s Grammar School. The elliptical areas of hard landscaping depict the eccentric orbits of the numerous asteroids in the main belt.
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LEFT to RIGHT - Hardlanscaping material supplied by Tobermore Concrete Products is carefuly unloaded at William Hulme's Grammar School in Manchester.
The artistic representation of the asteroid Gaspra during construction.
Spaced Out director Nigel Marshall (left) and Ian Morison from the Jodrell Bank Observatory pose for photographs with pupils from William Hulme's Grammar School at the unveiling of Gaspra in Marsh 2005.
Gaspra was discovered on 30 July 1916 by Grigoriy N. Neujamin from Semeis Observatory on Mount Koshka in the Crimea region of the Ukraine.
It was named after a holiday resort on the Black Sea visited by Tolstoy and Gorky.
Gaspra was the first asteroid to be imaged by spacecraft when the Galileo probe passed within 1600 km on 29 October 1991 on route to Jupiter.
Gaspra is slightly larger than Mars' larger moon Phobos.
The asteroid can be found in the Main Belt and has a reddish colour and the surface reflects about 20% of the sunlight striking it.
