#comet #surface changes before #Rosetta’s eyes
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/09/18/comet-surface-changes-before-rosettas-eyes
In the months leading to the #perihelion of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, #rosetta scientists have been witnessing dramatic and rapid surface changes on the #Imhotep region, as reported in a paper to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics Since arriving at Comet 67P/C-G in August 2014, Rosetta has been witnessing an increase in the #activity of the comet, warmed by the ever-closer Sun. A general increase in the outflow of gas and dust has been punctuated by the emergence of jets and dramatic rapid outbursts in the weeks around perihelion, the closest point to the Sun on the comet’s orbit, which occurred on 13 August 2015. But in June 2015, just two months before perihelion, Rosetta scientists started noticing important changes on the surface of the nucleus itself. These very (...)
