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posted by martyb on Monday September 22 2014, @01:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the pics-or-it-didn't-happen...oh-wait... dept.

As the Rosetta lander approaches its target comet for a landing in November there are a series of pictures available, and these images have been postprocessed to highlight jets from the comet.

The Rosetta Space Probe is a European Space Agency mission to land a probe on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The pictures are taken from Rosetta's Navigation Camera (NAVCAM) at a distance of 28.6 kilometers as it closes in on the comet ahead of the scheduled descent of the Philae lander.

This particular image is an example of the ESA releasing detailed mosaic images for amateurs to process, which started a few weeks ago, and continues to provide some stunning NAVCAM images.

The raw images were released on the ESA blog and there's a summary of the mission objectives available.

Rosetta has been covered previously on Soylent at arrival and mapping of 67P.

Related Stories

Rosetta Finally Arrives at Comet 67P 6 comments

After a decade-long journey and four gravity-assist flybys, the Rosetta space probe has finally reached its destination: the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Congratulations to the team!

The comet has shown variable activity as it is approaching the Sun in its elliptical, 6.5-year orbit. For the time being, watch for outstanding images of the comet's core, early scientific results, and the deploy of the Philae lander, currently expected for 11 November.

More information at the Rosetta blog.

First Map of Rosetta's Comet 5 comments

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-308

Scientists have found that the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko—the target of study for the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission—can be divided into several regions, each characterized by different classes of features. High-resolution images of the comet reveal a unique, multifaceted world.

ESA's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at its destination about a month ago and is currently accompanying the comet as it progresses on its route toward the inner solar system. Scientists have analyzed images of the comet's surface taken by OSIRIS, Rosetta's scientific imaging system, and defined several different regions, each of which has a distinctive physical appearance. This analysis provides the basis for a detailed scientific description of 67P's surface. A map showing the comet's various regions is available at: http://go.nasa.gov/1pU26L2

The new comet maps will offer valuable insights for members of the Rosetta team, who are gathering in Toulouse, France, on September 13 and 14, to determine a primary and backup landing site from five candidates they previously had selected.

For background, see: Rosetta: Landing Site Search Narrows which was published on August 25, 2014:

The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission has chosen five candidate landing sites on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for its Philae lander. Philae's descent to the comet's nucleus, scheduled for this November, will be the first such landing ever attempted. Rosetta is an international mission spearheaded by the European Space Agency with support and instruments provided by NASA.

Choosing the right landing site is a complex process. It must balance the technical needs of the orbiter and lander during all phases of the separation, descent and landing, and during operations on the surface, with the scientific requirements of the 10 instruments on board Philae. A key issue is that uncertainties in navigating the orbiter close to the comet mean that it is possible to specify any given landing zone only in terms of an ellipse—covering about-four-tenths of a square mile (one square kilometer)—within which Philae might land.

Rosetta Update: Lander Date Confirmed: 12th November 2014

A quick note to mention that the ESA have announced that:

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission will deploy its lander, Philae, to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014.

There is a Press Release with more details available. For additional background on the Rosetta probe, there have been Soylent stories on the Probe's wakeup from hibernation, arrival at 67P, mapping the comet and camera images.

For more information see the ESA Rosetta Page.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Monday September 22 2014, @01:57PM

    by GreatAuntAnesthesia (3275) on Monday September 22 2014, @01:57PM (#96762) Journal

    That comet picture is stunning. So many textures, such an interesting shape, to think of this tiny worldlet up there, unseen and untouched by human life up until now blows my mind. I think this comet will have a lot to teach us. Also, it looks to me a bit like a horse or a lion. According to wikipedia, it's about 2 miles long, so those pimples you can see on the comet's neck are the size of houses. The mountains on the mane must be hundreds of metres high. Imagine standing on those mountains (Gravity is around 1/1000 Earth's so you'd have to either stand very still or hold on to the floor), looking across the saddle to the other side of the world, seeing the ground drop away to either side. It's incredible.

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday September 22 2014, @02:52PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Monday September 22 2014, @02:52PM (#96786) Journal

      I suspect it rotates. So you would have to attach yourself to the body to actually stay around ;-)

    • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Monday September 22 2014, @05:19PM

      by wonkey_monkey (279) on Monday September 22 2014, @05:19PM (#96843) Homepage

      Are you sure it's not a squirrel with an old man's face, facing the other way?

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk
  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by knarf on Monday September 22 2014, @05:10PM

    by knarf (2042) on Monday September 22 2014, @05:10PM (#96839)

    Take a look at the picture and notice that there is a crack going close to half through the 'waist' of the 'beast' in the area where the gas seems to be emanating from. It looks like the thing could split in two, given enough internal pressure. Maybe they should place the lander next to it? It'll probably be difficult given the near lack of gravity as well as the direction of it changing with distance from the surface but it'd make a nice counterpoint to those silly scenes in recent disaster movies involving space shuttles with nuclear boosters and such...