#Rosetta’s #far_excursion to study the #coma at large
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/09/18/rosettas-far-excursion-to-study-the-coma-at-large
Next week, on 23 September, #rosetta will depart on a three-week excursion that will take it up to 1500 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, much farther than it has been since arriving at the comet in August 2014. The main #Science goal driving this course of action is to study the coma of 67P/C-G on a broader scale while the comet’s activity is still high in the post-perihelion phase. While almost all #Instruments on Rosetta will be operating during the excursion, this exploration of the coma at large will be especially interesting to study the #plasma environment of the comet with the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC) instruments. In particular, scientists are aiming at detecting the #bow_shock, a boundary between the comet’s magnetosphere and the ambient solar wind. (...)