#on_this_day

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

#CometWatch 6 August – Two years on
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/08/08/cometwatch-6-august-two-years-on

Two incredible years have passed since ESA’s #comet-chaser #Rosetta arrived at #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014. During that time #rosetta has mapped the comet’s curious shape and given us awe-inspiring views from near and far, spotting changes in its surface features and watching as jets of gas and dust stream out in to space – sometimes unexpectedly as sudden outbursts. The spacecraft has performed daring close flybys and made distant excursions to sample gas, dust and plasma at a range of distances, giving unparalleled insight into the processes that operate at the comet and how it interacts with its environment as it hurtles through space. In two years, the comet has travelled around 1.5 billion km along its orbit around the Sun, passing through perihelion last August – (...)

#Arrival #On_this_day #navcam

#CometWatch 6 August
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/08/11/cometwatch-6-august

Today’s CometWatch entry is an image of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on 6 August 2015, exactly a year to the day of #Rosetta's historic rendezvous. The image was taken 261 km from the #comet centre. Currently, the comet is around 186 million km from the Sun, and it will reach #perihelion – the closest point to the Sun along its orbit – next Thursday. This image shows an intense comet activity, with prominent outflows and jets of material and the unlit patches of the nucleus standing out as a silhouette against the overall bright background. Due to the increased concentration of gas and dust over the last few months, #rosetta is now studying the comet from safer distances, and is currently operating some 300 km out. In the spirit of celebrating Rosetta’s first year at the comet, we (...)

#Arrival #Comets #Fun_stuff #Images #On_this_day ##perihelion2015 #navcam

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

Happy birthday, Svetlana!
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/02/23/happy-birthday-svetlana

We wish a happy birthday to #Svetlana_Gerasimenko, who back in 1969 discovered Rosetta’s #comet, along with Klim Churyumov. Read more about Svetlana in this interview from the summer of 2014.

#Comet_67P #Fun_stuff #On_this_day

Happy birthday, Klim!
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/02/19/happy-birthday-klim

We wish a happy birthday to #Klim_Churyumov, co-discoverer along with Svetlana Gerasimenko of Rosetta’s #comet, in September 1969.

#Comet_67P #Fun_stuff #On_this_day