#comet_67p/churyumov–gerasimenko

#Rosetta’s complete journey – #animation
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/12/23/rosettas-complete-journey-animation

Now in one complete animation: #rosetta’s #trajectory around #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, from arrival to mission end. The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosetta’s final approach to the comet after its ten-year journey through space. The spacecraft arrived at a distance of 100 km on 6 August, from where it gradually approached the comet and entered initial mapping orbits that were needed to select a #Landing site for Philae. These observations also enabled the first comet science of the mission. The manoeuvres in the lead up to, during and after Philae’s release on 12 November are seen, before Rosetta settled into longer-term science orbits. In February and March 2015 the spacecraft made several flybys. One of the closest triggered a ‘safe mode’ that forced it to retreat (...)

#Fun_stuff #Operations #video ##CometLanding #flyby #manoeuvre

An encounter with #Klim_Churyumov
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/11/11/an-encounter-with-klim-churyumov

Two years ago this week, the entire world was getting ready for a historic endeavour in space: the first soft #Landing of a human-made probe on a #comet. On 12 November 2014, #Rosetta's lander #Philae landed on #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and while the landing didn’t go exactly as planned, Philae finally managed to secure itself to the nucleus and to conduct a series of scientific experiments in situ, while Rosetta kept observing the comet from a distance until the mission’s end last September. As communicators of ESA’s #Science missions, we gathered at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, to follow Philae’s landing and report it via ESA’s web and social media. During the week, ESOC was packed with scientists and engineers from the Rosetta and Philae (...)

#Comets #On_this_day ##CometLanding

The surprising #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/26/the-surprising-comet

As #Rosetta began homing in on #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in the weeks leading up to its arrival in August 2014, it became very clear that this was no ordinary comet. But its striking shape was only just the beginning of the comet’s surprises. After more than two years spent living with the comet, #rosetta scientists reflect on some of the mission’s unexpected discoveries, the mysteries solved and the new questions raised. “Rosetta has completely changed our picture of #Comets,” says Eberhard Grün, an interdisciplinary scientist working on the Rosetta mission at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. “Previously, they were pictured as dirty ice balls – or, as some prefer, icy #dust balls – but now we know them, or at least this one, to be geologically complex (...)

#Science #instruments #magnetic_field #perihelion #science #water

Summer fireworks on #Rosetta’s #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/23/summer-fireworks-on-rosettas-comet

Brief but powerful outbursts seen from #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko during its most active period last year have been traced back to their origins on the surface. In the three months centred around the comet’s closest approach to the Sun, on 13 August 2015, #rosetta’s cameras captured 34 outbursts. These violent events were over and above regular jets and flows of material seen streaming from the comet’s nucleus. The latter switch on and off with clockwork repeatability from one comet rotation to the next, synchronised with the rise and fall of the Sun’s illumination. By contrast, outbursts are much brighter than the usual jets – sudden, brief, high-speed releases of dust. They are typically seen only in a single image, indicating that they have a lifetime shorter than interval between (...)

#Comets #CometWatch #Images #Science ##CometWatch #instruments

#Rosetta’s descent towards region of active pits
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/09/rosettas-descent-towards-region-of-active-pits

Squeezing out unique scientific observations until the very end, #rosetta’s thrilling mission will culminate with a descent on 30 September towards a region of active pits on the #comet’s ‘head’. The region, known as Ma’at, lies on the smaller of the two lobes of #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is home to several active pits more than 100 m in diameter and 50–60 m in depth – where a number of the comet’s dust jets originate. The walls of the pits also exhibit intriguing metre-sized lumpy structures called ‘goosebumps’, which scientists believe could be the signatures of early ‘cometesimals’ that assembled to create the comet in the early phases of Solar System formation. Rosetta will get its closest look yet at these fascinating structures on 30 September: the spacecraft will target a point (...)

#Comets #Instruments #Landing #Operations #Science ##CometLanding #instruments #science #trajectory

What does the #Rosetta mission mean to you?
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/06/what-does-the-rosetta-mission-mean-to-you

To celebrate the success of #rosetta and to keep a long-lasting record of its impact on the world, we invite you to share your personal experiences and feelings about how the mission has influenced you. Perhaps you followed the mission via this blog, the news or other social media channels, and found a special link between the spacecraft visiting #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and your own experience. Maybe you’ve been stimulated to create art, music, or a theatrical production, or perhaps you brought Rosetta and #Philae into your every day life at home through creative activities or games with your children. Or did you learn about the mission at school? Maybe you based a project on Rosetta and #philae’s adventures, or even made a further education or career choice inspired by the (...)

#Fun_stuff #Outreach #comet #competition #legacy #public

How #Comets are born
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/07/28/how-comets-are-born

This story is mirrored from the ESA Web Portal. Detailed analysis of data collected by #Rosetta show that comets are the ancient leftovers of early #solar_system #formation, and not younger fragments resulting from subsequent collisions between other, larger bodies. Understanding how and when objects like #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko took shape is of utmost importance in determining how exactly they can be used to interpret the formation and early evolution of our Solar System. A new study addressing this question led by Björn Davidsson of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology in Pasadena (USA), has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. If comets are #primordial, then they could help reveal the properties of the solar nebula from which the Sun, (...)

#Instruments #Science #comet #rosetta #rubble_pile #TNOs

Exposed ice on #Rosetta’s #comet confirmed as water
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/01/13/exposed-ice-on-rosettas-comet-confirmed-as-water

This article is mirrored from the main ESA Web Portal. Observations made shortly after #rosetta’s arrival at its target comet in 2014 have provided definitive confirmation of the presence of water ice. Although water vapour is the main gas seen flowing from #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the great majority of ice is believed to come from under the comet’s crust, and very few examples of exposed water ice have been found on the surface. However, a detailed analysis by Rosetta’s VIRTIS infrared instrument reveals the composition of the comet’s topmost layer: it is primarily coated in a dark, dry and organic-rich material but with a small amount of water ice mixed in. In the latest study, which focuses on scans between September and November 2014, the team confirms that two areas several (...)

#Comets #Science #instruments #science

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

#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

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

How #Rosetta’s #comet got its shape
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/09/28/how-rosettas-comet-got-its-shape

This news item is mirrored from the main ESA Web Portal. Two #Comets collided at low speed in the early Solar System to give rise to the distinctive ‘rubber duck’ shape of #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, say #rosetta scientists. The origin of the comet’s double-lobed form has been a key question since Rosetta first revealed its surprising shape in July 2014. Two leading ideas emerged: did two comets merge or did localised erosion of a single object form the ‘neck’? Now, scientists have an unambiguous answer to the conundrum. By using high-resolution #Images taken between 6 August 2014 and 17 March 2015 to study the layers of material seen all over the nucleus, they have shown that the shape arose from a low-speed collision between two fully fledged, separately formed comets. “It is clear from (...)

#Science #instruments #science

#Rosetta reveals #comet’s water-ice cycle
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/09/23/rosetta-reveals-comets-water-ice-cycle

ESA’s #rosetta spacecraft has provided evidence for a daily water-ice cycle on and near the surface of #Comets. This story is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. Comets are celestial bodies comprising a mixture of dust and ices, which they periodically shed as they swing towards their closest point to the Sun along their highly eccentric orbits. As sunlight heats the frozen nucleus of a comet, the ice in it – mainly water but also other ‘volatiles’ such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide – turns directly into a gas. This gas flows away from the comet, carrying dust particles along. Together, gas and dust build up the bright halo and tails that are characteristic of comets. Rosetta arrived at #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in August 2014 and has been studying it up close for over a (...)

#Instruments #Science #instruments #science

#Rosetta’s big day in the Sun
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/08/13/rosettas-big-day-in-the-sun

ESA’s #rosetta today witnessed #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko making its closest approach to the Sun. The exact moment of #perihelion occurred at 02:03 GMT this morning when the #comet came within 186 million km of the Sun. Read the full story and see the latest #Images on the ESA Web Portal. (coming soon on the blog too)

#Ground-based_observations #Instruments #Science ##perihelion2015

Comet’s firework display ahead of perihelion
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/08/11/comets-firework-display-ahead-of-perihelion

This article is mirrored from the main ESA Web Portal. In the approach to perihelion over the past few weeks, #Rosetta has been witnessing growing activity from #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, with one dramatic outburst event proving so powerful that it even pushed away the incoming solar wind. The comet reaches perihelion on Thursday, the moment in its 6.5-year orbit when it is closest to the Sun. In recent months, the increasing solar energy has been warming the comet’s frozen ices, turning them to gas, which pours out into space, dragging dust along with it. The period around perihelion is scientifically very important, as the intensity of the sunlight increases and parts of the comet previously cast in years of darkness are flooded with sunlight. Although the comet’s general activity (...)

#Comets #CometWatch #Images #Instruments #Science ##CometWatch ##perihelion2015 #instruments #rosetta #science

Celebrating a year at the #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/08/06/celebrating-a-year-at-the-comet

This article is mirrored from the main ESA Web Portal ESA’s #Rosetta mission today celebrates one year at #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, with its closest approach to the Sun now just one week away. It’s been a long but exciting journey for #rosetta since its launch in 2004, featuring Earth, Mars and two asteroid flybys before arriving at its ultimate destination on 6 August 2014. Over the following months, the mission became the first ever to orbit a comet and the first to soft land a probe – #Philae – on its surface. The mission teams have had to overcome many challenges in learning to fly in an unpredictable and sometimes inhospitable environment, and the spacecraft has returned a wealth of outstanding scientific data from this intriguing comet, spanning its interior, the dramatic surface (...)

#Arrival #Comets #CometWatch #Images #Instruments #media #On_this_day #Operations #Science ##CometLanding ##CometWatch ##RosettaAreWeThereYet ##WakeUpRosetta #flyby #instruments #lander #landing_day #philae #science #trajectory #wake-up

#comet sinkholes generate jets
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/07/01/comet-sinkholes-generate-jets

This story is mirrored from the main ESA web portal and is based on a paper just published in the journal Nature. A number of the dust jets emerging from #Rosetta’s comet can be traced back to active pits that were likely formed by a sudden collapse of the surface. These ‘sinkholes’ are providing a glimpse at the chaotic and diverse interior of the comet. #rosetta has been monitoring #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko’s activity for over a year, watching how its halo of dust and gas grows as the comet moves closer to the Sun along its orbit. From a distance of a few hundred kilometres, Rosetta observes an intricate pattern of the dust jets emitted from the nucleus as they stream out into space. But now, thanks to high-resolution #Images from the OSIRIS camera from distances of just 10–30 km from (...)

#Comets #Instruments #Science #instruments #science

Ultraviolet study reveals surprises in #comet coma
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/06/02/ultraviolet-study-reveals-surprises-in-comet-coma

This news item is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. #Rosetta’s continued close study of #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has revealed an unexpected process at work, causing the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the comet’s surface. ESA’s #rosetta mission arrived at the comet in August last year. Since then, it has been orbiting or flying past the comet at distances from as far as several hundred kilometres down to as little as 8 km. While doing so, it has been collecting data on every aspect of the comet’s environment with its suite of 11 #Science #Instruments. One instrument, the Alice spectrograph provided by NASA, has been examining the chemical composition of the comet’s atmosphere, or coma, at far-ultraviolet wavelengths. At these wavelengths, Alice (...)

#Comets #instruments #science