2015 | Rosetta - ESA’s comet chaser

Year-end break notice
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/12/14/year-end-break-notice

We can hardly believe we are approaching the end of yet another incredible year for the Rosetta mission, which has now spent nearly 500 days “living” with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. From dramatic close flybys to the peak of comet activity during the months around perihelion, 2015 has seen the Rosetta mission shine with scientific discovery. A slew of fascinating results have been published from both the Rosetta orbiter and the Philae lander teams in the last year, which have certainly triggered some intense discussion in the comments section on this blog! As we did last year, we are planning to take a short break, between close of business on 18 December 2015 and 4 January 2016. During this time we don’t foresee any routine updates (aside from images that might be released via the (...)

#CometWatch 7 December
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/12/11/cometwatch-7-december-2

Today’s CometWatch entry is a #navcam image taken on 7 December 2015, when #Rosetta was 103.1 km from the #comet nucleus. The scale is 8.8 m/pixel and the image measures 9 km across. The contrast was increased to reveal the beautiful details of the comet’s activity, especially on the upper and left sides of the nucleus. With the large lobe up and the small lobe down, this image shows an interesting view of the comet and a stunning juxtaposition of lit and shadowed areas on the surface of 67P/C-G. On the large lobe, the image offers a great view on the smooth terrains of Anubis and, further away, on the more irregular region of Atum. Towards the right, hints of Ash are also visible. In this curious orientation, the two lobes appear as if they were separated, with the regions between them (...)

#Comet_67P #Images #rosetta

Ride along with #Rosetta through the eyes of #osiris
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/12/11/ride-along-with-rosetta-through-the-eyes-of-osiris

Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera team has launched a new website to showcase their recent #Images of #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The high-resolution images, taken either with the narrow- or wide-angle scientific imaging camera, will show the #comet as recently as the day before. They will be posted to a dedicated website but followers can also subscribe to a mailing list to receive the images directly via email. The cadence of the images released will depend on the scientific operations of the spacecraft and in particular on the as-run OSIRIS observations on any given day, along with the availability of images downloaded from the spacecraft. A minimum of an image per week should be expected, up to an image a day if they are taken daily. “Following perihelion and a far excursion, we are now (...)

##CometWatch #rosetta

#Philae status update
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/12/09/philae-status-update

Short video update from the #lander Control Center at DLR: #Videoupdate: the quest to re-establish contact with @Philae2014 continues... #lifeonacomet pic.twitter.com/0fp7Jrl8g2 — DLR - English (@DLR_en) December 9, 2015

#Landing #Operations #Rosetta ##CometLanding #philae #rosetta #trajectory

Cometwatch 27 November
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/12/04/cometwatch-27-november

This week’s Cometwatch entry was taken by #Rosetta’s #navcam on 27 November 2015 when the spacecraft was 124 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 10.6 m/pixel and the image measures 10.8 km across. The contrast has been lightly enhanced to bring out the comet’s activity without losing details of the nucleus. The image shows a beautiful view of Imhotep on the comet’s large lobe, but with the resolution of NAVCAM at this distance it is not possible to make out the same level of detail as seen in the OSIRIS images depicting changes in the smooth, central portion that were observed in this region before perihelion. Perhaps the most eye-catching features of the image are the two groups of jets fanning out from the comet’s top-right horizon. Less defined jets (...)

##CometWatch #rosetta

#CometWatch 22 November
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/26/cometwatch-22-november

This week’s Cometwatch entry was taken by #Rosetta’s #navcam on 22 November 2015 when the spacecraft was 127.7 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The scale is 10.9 m/pixel and the image measures 11.1 km across. The contrast has been lightly enhanced to bring out the #comet's activity without losing details of the nucleus. A prominent active region is clearly visible towards the horizon on the right of the nucleus in this orientation, close to the comet’s ‘neck’. Although faint, several diffuse jets of activity can also be seen emanating from the Imhotep region, which is cast in shadow in the foreground. Stretching the contrast of the image even further will reveal these active regions more clearly (but will wash out the nucleus). The comet nucleus is oriented with much of (...)

#Comets #rosetta

CometWatch 17 November
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/19/cometwatch-17-november-2

Today’s CometWatch entry is a #navcam image taken on 17 November 2015, when #Rosetta was 141.4 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spacecraft has not been this close to the nucleus since weeks before perihelion, when the increased amounts of dust due to enhanced #comet activity started interfering with navigation and #rosetta remained at larger distances from 67P/C-G. The scale is 12.1 m/pixel and the image measures 12.3 km across; the contrast was increased to bring out the comet’s activity. In this orientation, the large comet lobe is on the lower left, and the small lobe on the upper right. Outflows of dust are visible around the nucleus, particularly to the left. On the small lobe, the circular depression of Hatmehit is well in sight, pointing to the upper (...)

#Images ##CometWatch

Reminiscing about the week of #comet #Landing
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/17/reminiscing-about-the-week-of-comet-landing

This time last year saw the end of an extraordinary week at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Hundreds of journalists and reporters had gathered to witness an historic endeavour as on 12 November 2014 the #Rosetta orbiter deployed the lander #Philae on the surface of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In this blog post, some of our media friends reflect on the events of that memorable week and on one evening in particular. Late in the evening on 14 November, two days after #philae had landed (and bounced) on the comet, three social-media eye-witnesses joined a small team of ESA communicators sitting just outside the mission control room at #esoc. Keeping an eye on Philae as it completed its scientific operations, they tweeted live what could have been the (...)

#Fun_stuff ##CometLanding #landing #rosetta

#CometWatch 12 November – one year on
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/13/cometwatch-12-november-one-year-on

Today’s CometWatch entry was taken yesterday by #Rosetta’s #navcam, on the anniversary of Philae’s historic landing on #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last year. The image was taken from a distance of 177.7 km; the image scale is 15.1 m/pixel and the image measures 15.5 km across. It has been lightly enhanced to better show the #comet’s activity. With #rosetta closer to the comet, more surface details can be seen again. On the large lobe, to the left, the relatively flat surface of Aker can be seen to the top, with Khepry to the left and Babi in the foreground. Hints of Anhur can also just be seen beyond Aker. On the small lobe, the circular depression Hatmehit takes centre stage. Philae’s first touchdown point, Agilkia, is to the lower right of Hatmehit in this orientation, with its final (...)

#Comets #Images

#video: #Science highlights one year since comet landing
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/13/video-science-highlights-one-year-since-comet-landing

This film covers the most recent #science news from the #Rosetta mission, as well as selected scientific highlights from the last year. 

#Comet_67P #Comets #Instruments #Philae #instruments #philae #rosetta

#Rosetta and #Philae : one year since #Landing on a #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/12/rosetta-and-philae-one-year-since-landing-on-a-comet

One year since #philae made its historic landing on a comet, mission teams remain hopeful for renewed contact with the #lander, while also looking ahead to next year’s grand finale: making a controlled impact of the #rosetta orbiter on the comet. This article is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. Rosetta arrived at #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014, and after an initial survey and selection of a landing site, Philae was delivered to the surface on 12 November. After touching down in the Agilkia region as planned, Philae did not secure itself to the comet, and it bounced to a new location in Abydos. Its flight across the surface is depicted in a new animation, using data collected by Rosetta and Philae to reconstruct the lander’s rotation and attitude (Ed’s note: more (...)

#Images #Instruments #Operations #Science ##CometLanding #instruments #science #trajectory

The sound of #Philae conducting #Science
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/12/the-sound-of-philae-conducting-science

Philae’s SESAME-CASSE ‘listened’ to the #lander’s MUPUS instrument hammer the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November. Martin Knapmeyer from the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, tells us more. SESAME-CASSE is the Cometary Acoustic Surface Sounding Experiment located in the lander’s feet. It takes the form of three accelerometers, each of which records acceleration in three directions (one vertical and two horizontal). MUPUS comprises the Multi-Purpose Sensors for Surface and Subsurface #science – including the MUPUS penetrator that was activated towards the end of #philae’s first science sequence on 14 November 2014. It was recognized early in the preparation of both experiments that the hammering mechanism of MUPUS, which drives a thermal probe into the comet’s surface, would (...)

#Comets #Instruments #Operations ##CometLanding #instruments #landing_day

From one comet #Landing to another: planning #Rosetta’s grand finale
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/12/from-one-comet-landing-to-another-planning-rosettas-grand-finale

As announced in June along with confirmation of the mission’s extension, #rosetta teams are planning to end the operational phase of the mission in a controlled impact of the orbiter on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at the end of September 2016. While the specific details of the trajectories and impact site are still under discussion, ESA’s Rosetta Spacecraft #Operations Manager Sylvain Lodiot, Project Scientist Matt Taylor, and mission manager Patrick Martin, share some background information on the planning of this dramatic mission finale. Why will the mission come to an end? Following perihelion in August, Comet 67P/C-G and Rosetta are now moving away from the Sun and back out towards the orbit of Jupiter. This creates a number of challenges: Reduced solar power As the (...)

#Instruments ##CometLanding #manoeuvre #timeline #trajectory

A fall of #comet dust and a field of boulders
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/09/a-fall-of-comet-dust-and-a-field-of-boulders

From the earliest clear views of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko it was obvious that the surface is a collection of contrasts: smooth plains, imposing craggy cliffs and scatterings of boulders. #Rosetta scientists are now digging into the detail to explain how some of these features may have arisen and what this means for our understanding of #Comets. The study of comet 67P/C-G reveals a dramatic surface environment where considerable amounts of material – up to 1000 kg per second – are ejected from the comet. Not all of this makes it into space, instead some falls back to coat the nucleus. These small, solid particles – typically with sizes ranging from micrometres to tens of centimetres – are ejected when icy material sublimes. As the ice turns from solid to gas, it escapes into space, (...)

#Images #Science #anaglyph #Hapi #Imhotep #osiris #rosetta #science

#CometWatch 31 October
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/06/cometwatch-31-october

Today’s CometWatch entry is a #navcam image taken on 31 October 2015, when #Rosetta was 293.4 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The scale is 25 m/pixel and the image measures 25.6 km across; the contrast was increased to bring out the #comet's activity. In this orientation, the comet small lobe is on the right and the large lobe on the left. The image shows interesting surface details of the four regions that were identified on the southern hemisphere after #rosetta started surveying this portion of the nucleus. The flat appearance of the Wosret region, on the small lobe, contrasts with the beautiful pattern of features seen on Sobek, in the ’neck’ region. On the large lobe, parts of Anhur along with Khonsu are visible, while portions of two previously known regions, (...)

#Comets

Astronomy & Astrophysics: #Rosetta special issue
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/02/astronomy-astrophysics-rosetta-special-issue

A special issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics was published online on Friday, featuring 46 articles based on data collected by Rosetta and #Philae in the mission’s first year at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Topics covered include the comet’s shape and formation theories, the evolution and nature of its activity, the composition of the coma, and the coma’s interaction with the solar wind. For a full list of contents, click here. Many of these papers were published over the past few months, and several were already covered by news articles here on the ESA blog and/or the main ESA web portal; you can find the news items linked from the table of contents by clicking on the ‘press release’ button.      

#Science #rosetta #science

#CometWatch 26 October – 6 hours apart
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/10/30/cometwatch-26-october-6-hours-apart

CometWatch this week comprises two #navcam images acquired six hours apart on 26 October 2015. The images have been lightly enhanced to reveal some detail of the comet’s activity (the unprocessed images are available at the end of the post). In the six hours that passed #Rosetta also moved 2.3 kilometres closer to the comet, resulting in slightly different image scales between the two images. Caption: Left: #Comet_67P/C-G at 13:31:01 UT on 26 October from a distance of 312.7 km. The image scale is 26.6 m/pixel and the image measures 27.3 km across. Right: The view 6 hours later, at 19:27:53 UT, from a distance of 310.4 km. The image scale for the second image is 26.5 m/pixel and the image measures 27.1 km. Since Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s rotation period is a little over 12 hours, (...)

#rosetta

First detection of molecular oxygen at a #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/10/28/first-detection-of-molecular-oxygen-at-a-comet

ESA’s #Rosetta spacecraft has made the first in situ detection of oxygen molecules outgassing from a comet, a surprising observation that suggests they were incorporated into the comet during its formation. This news story is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. #rosetta has been studying #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for over a year and has detected an abundance of different gases pouring from its nucleus. #water vapour, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are the most prolific, with a rich array of other nitrogen-, sulphur- and carbon-bearing species, and even ‘noble gases’ also recorded. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the Universe, but the simplest molecular version of the gas, O2, has proven surprisingly hard to track down, even in star-forming clouds, because it is highly (...)

#Comets #Instruments #Science #coma #instruments #science

The story behind the #Rosetta ‘claymation’
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/10/27/the-story-behind-the-rosetta-claymation

Earlier this month, the Royal Observatory Greenwich, UK, released a wonderful educational #video about the #rosetta Mission using ‘claymation’ – animated clay figures. It was a big hit with the Rosetta team and so we caught up with Elizabeth Avery, senior manager of Astronomy Education at the ROG and one of the minds behind the video, to learn more about how it was put together. The same team at the ROG has also since released a complementary video called Space Rocks, about asteroids, #Comets, meteors, and meteorites. You can watch both videos as part of this post. What made you choose to focus on the Rosetta mission for this video? We have a very long list of things we would love to make videos about, so it is always a huge challenge to choose just one topic. When we were first thinking of (...)

#Fun_stuff #Landing #Philae #Science ##CometLanding #comet #philae #science

#CometWatch 18 October
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/10/23/cometwatch-18-october-2

Today’s CometWatch entry was taken by #Rosetta’s #navcam taken on 18 October 2015, at 433 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The scale is 36.9 m/pixel and the image measures 37.8 km across. The contrast was increased to reveal the #comet's activity, showing the glow of outflowing material from various regions on the nucleus. In this view, the comet is oriented with the small lobe on the left and the large lobe on the right. Visible on the small lobe are parts of the Hatmehit, Maftet and Ma’at regions and, towards the centre of the image, the small regions of Nut and Serqet. Hints of the Anuket and Hapi regions can be seen on the comet’s neck, while the large lobe presents the circular features of Seth alongside the smooth terrains of Anubis and parts of the complex (...)

#Images #rosetta