Tag: Comets

  • Lost Philae lander found on comet

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    Rosetta’s lander Philae has been identified in OSIRIS narrow-angle camera images taken on Sept. 2, 2016 from a distance of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers). The image scale is about 2 inches (5 centimeters) per pixel. Philae’s 3-foot-wide (1-meter) body and two of its three legs can be seen extended from the body. The images also…

  • Scientists to land, and switch off, Rosetta comet probe in September

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    Artist’s concept of the Rosetta spacecraft at comet 67P. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM/ATG medialab The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission will end Sept. 30 with a dicey descent to the core of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a risky, but potentially rewarding finale punctuated by commands to automatically safe the probe’s rocket thrusters and turn off its radio transmitter. The…

  • Dizzying final few months planned for Rosetta comet probe

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    Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera took this image of comet 67P on Jan. 23 at a distance of 75 kilometers (46 miles). Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Entering the final months of a 12-year mission, Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft is again moving closer to the oddball comet that has engaged scientists since it arrived in 2014, heading…

  • The surface of Rosetta’s comet is changing

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    This sequence of ten images showing changes in the Imhotep region on Comet 67P/Chruymov-Gerasimenko were taken with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Rosetta between May 24 and July 11, 2015. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Views from Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter show mysterious markings appearing on the nucleus of Comet 67P in recent months,…

  • The surface of Rosetta’s comet is changing

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    This sequence of ten images showing changes in the Imhotep region on Comet 67P/Chruymov-Gerasimenko were taken with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Rosetta between May 24 and July 11, 2015. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Views from Europe’s Rosetta comet orbiter show mysterious markings appearing on the nucleus of Comet 67P in recent months,…

  • Rosetta gets ringside seat to smelly comet outburst

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    A short-lived outburst from Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko was captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on July 29. Each image was taken 18 minutes apart, showing no activity, a sudden eruption, and then a faint trace of the jet. Rosetta was flying 186 kilometers (115 miles) from the comet at the time of the outburst. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS…