Tag: Comet

  • Tour comet 67P in Rosetta’s latest image release

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    The latest batch of images released from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission shows the brutal gray landscape of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in vivid detail. ESA posted 1,776 images from Rosetta’s navigation camera on the agency’s website Thursday, adding to a growing catalog of imagery of comet 67P since the probe arrived in August 2014. The…

  • Rosetta keeps its distance from awakening comet

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    Rosetta’s navigation camera took images for this mosaic of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on April 8. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM Mission controllers are rethinking a series of close-up comet flybys planned for Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft after a haze of dust around the comet’s central nucleus led to navigation errors during a close encounter in late March. Rosetta’s computer put…

  • Diverse destinations considered for new interplanetary probe

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    NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft collected images for this montage of Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io in 2007. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute/Goddard Space Flight Center Science teams from across the United States have submitted 28 proposals for missions to explore the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, touch the asteroid-like…

  • Rosetta probe disoriented by comet dust

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    This view of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera on March 22, showing a cloud of dust and gas surrounding the nucleus. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM Ground controllers are analyzing a fault aboard Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft after an encounter with comet dust confused the probe’s navigation system, leaving the robot explorer in a temporary safe…

  • Rosetta begins listening for signs of life from comet lander

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    Artist’s concept of the Philae comet lander. Credit: DLR Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft is trying to contact the Philae landing probe for the first time since the robot fell silent after a bouncy landing on a comet in November. Although there are slim odds of hearing from Philae in the first communications window this month, scientists…

  • Rosetta glimpses its own shadow on comet 67P

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    Close view of a 228 x 228 m region on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as seen by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera during Rosetta’s flyby at 12:39 UT on 14 February 2015. The image was taken six kilometers above the comet’s surface, and the image resolution is just 11 cm/pixel. Rosetta’s fuzzy shadow, measuring approximately 20 x 50…

  • Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

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    Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft — six months into its mission at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — made its closest flyby of the comet’s boulder-strewn nucleus Saturday, capturing photos and measurements to help scientists unravel how the duck-shaped body is evolving on its path around the sun. Rosetta flew just six kilometers — about 3.7 miles — from the…

  • Rosetta approaches comet 67P for a closer look

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    A single-frame image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta’s navigation camera taken Feb. 9 at a range of 105 km, showing part of the nucleus enveloped in jets of dust and gas. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM The Rosetta spacecraft neared its comet Saturday, targeting a close flyby within four miles of the tiny world’s jagged nucleus to gain…

  • New discoveries from Rosetta put comet 67P in focus

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    This image from Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera shows part of a large fracture in the neck of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Scientists have released new findings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, adding fresh pages to a catalog of comet data that officials promise will swell with more discoveries over the…

  • Rosetta raises questions on how water got to Earth

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    A four-image mosaic of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using images taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera on Dec. 7 at a distance of 19.7 kilometers (12.2 miles) from the center of the comet. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM New readings from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission have challenged the theory that comets brought water to Earth in a series of…