#Rosetta captures #comet outburst
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/08/25/rosetta-captures-comet-outburst
This article is mirrored from the ESA Portal. In unprecedented observations made earlier this year, #rosetta unexpectedly captured a dramatic comet outburst that may have been triggered by a landslide. Nine of Rosetta’s #instruments, including its cameras, dust collectors, and gas and plasma analysers, were monitoring the comet from about 35 km in a coordinated planned sequence when the outburst happened on 19 February. “Over the last year, Rosetta has shown that although activity can be prolonged, when it comes to outbursts, the timing is highly unpredictable, so catching an event like this was pure luck,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist. “By happy coincidence, we were pointing the majority of instruments at the comet at this time, and having these simultaneous measurements (...)
