Tag: Comets
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Hubble catches best glimpse yet of interstellar interloper
The comet appears in front of a distant background spiral galaxy (2MASX J10500165-0152029) in this Nov. 19 image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The galaxy’s bright central core is smeared in the image because Hubble was tracking the comet. Comet Borisov was approximately 203 million miles from Earth in this exposure. Its tail of ejected…
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Hubble observes interstellar visitor
This Hubble image, taken on Oct. 12, 2019, is the sharpest view to date of the comet. Hubble reveals a central concentration of dust around the nucleus (which is too small to be seen by Hubble). Credit: NASA, ESA and D. Jewitt (UCLA) The Hubble Space Telescope has returned an image of a comet that…
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European space mission to get close-up view of new comet
This view of Comet C/2012 S1, or ISON, was captured in November 2013 by the TRAPPIST–South telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla facility in Chile. Comet ISON was a dynamically new comet that likely began its journey to the inner solar system from the Oort Cloud, spherical shell of icy objects located between…
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Gravitational wave testbed repurposed as comet dust detector
In the final months of Europe’s LISA Pathfinder mission, scientists have found an unexpected use for the trailblazing testbed for a future gravitational wave observatory by tracking the tiny dings made by microscopic particles that strike the spacecraft in deep space, exploiting the impacts to learn about the population of dust grains cast off by…
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Rosetta’s comet shows scars from swing through inner solar system
This series of before-and-after views show the area of the Aswan cliff, which collapsed in July 2015 in conjunction with a strong outburst of gas and dust, seen by Rosetta in the long-range view at center. The same boulder is circled in all images to guide the eye when viewing the scene from different orientations.…
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Rosetta’s last photos of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Just before settling to a soft crash landing Friday, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft captured close-range images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, peering into a stadium-sized pit and recording a final dataset to keep scientists busy long after the mission’s end. The craft’s OSIRIS science camera took images throughout Rosetta’s descent and sent the data back…
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Rosetta mission ends with comet touchdown
Sequence of images captured by Rosetta during its descent to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The Deir el-Medina pit is just right of center. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Europe’s Rosetta mission ended its 12-year mission Friday with a low-speed belly-flop on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, concluding an interplanetary odyssey that gave humanity a first close-up…
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Live coverage: Rosetta’s final hours
Live coverage of the final descent of Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Rosetta spacecraft heads for comet crash landing
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Artist’s concept of the Rosetta spacecraft just before impact with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab The European Space Agency’s $1.6 billion Rosetta spacecraft closed in Thursday for a deliberate crash landing on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko early Friday, a slow-motion kamikaze plunge to bring the enormously successful…
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Video: Rosetta scientist Matt Taylor on the end of mission
Astronomy Now speaks with Matt Taylor, Rosetta project scientist, at the European Space Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, about the plan to crash land the spacecraft on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.