Tag: Comet
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Rosetta begins listening for signs of life from comet lander
Artist’s concept of the Philae comet lander. Credit: DLR Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft is trying to contact the Philae landing probe for the first time since the robot fell silent after a bouncy landing on a comet in November. Although there are slim odds of hearing from Philae in the first communications window this month, scientists…
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Rosetta glimpses its own shadow on comet 67P
Close view of a 228 x 228 m region on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as seen by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera during Rosetta’s flyby at 12:39 UT on 14 February 2015. The image was taken six kilometers above the comet’s surface, and the image resolution is just 11 cm/pixel. Rosetta’s fuzzy shadow, measuring approximately 20 x 50…
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Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up
Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft — six months into its mission at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — made its closest flyby of the comet’s boulder-strewn nucleus Saturday, capturing photos and measurements to help scientists unravel how the duck-shaped body is evolving on its path around the sun. Rosetta flew just six kilometers — about 3.7 miles — from the…
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Rosetta approaches comet 67P for a closer look
A single-frame image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta’s navigation camera taken Feb. 9 at a range of 105 km, showing part of the nucleus enveloped in jets of dust and gas. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM The Rosetta spacecraft neared its comet Saturday, targeting a close flyby within four miles of the tiny world’s jagged nucleus to gain…
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New discoveries from Rosetta put comet 67P in focus
This image from Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows part of a large fracture in the neck of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the…
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Rosetta raises questions on how water got to Earth
A four-image mosaic of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using images taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera on Dec. 7 at a distance of 19.7 kilometers (12.2 miles) from the center of the comet. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM New readings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission have challenged the theory that comets brought water to Earth in a series of…
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Rosetta imagery shows Philae at first landing site
Images recorded by Rosetta’s navigation camera appear to show the lander, its shadow and the dust cloud kicked up by its first touchdown. Image: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM; pre-processed by Mikel Canania The first image in the sequence was taken on at 15:30 GMT on 12 November, just before the lander’s first touchdown; the second image was taken at 15:35…
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Comet lander’s batteries near exhaustion
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS “SPACE PLACE” & USED WITH PERMISSION Comet from 40 meters. Credit: Copyright ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR Trapped in rough, forbidding terrain with its solar panels draped in shadow, the Philae comet lander raced the clock Friday to carry out high-priority science operations, including an attempt to drill into the surface of the…
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Lander manager says Philae is doing well but battery life is low
The lander project manager Stephan Ulamec says tremendous science has been collected during Philae’s short time on the surface but battery life is now limited and it is unlikely to last much longer.
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Mission scientist reacts to historic first images from the surface of a comet
Rosetta mission scientist Matt Taylor says the science team is jubilant after the Philae lander captured the historic, first close up images of the surface of a comet and began returning data from its science instruments.