Rosetta Captures Breathtaking Comet Views Advancing Landing Site Selection

universetoday.com ^ | September 8, 2014 | Ken Kremer on

[BenLurkin]

Jagged cliffs and prominent boulders are clearly visible in unprecedented detail on the head and body of Comet 67P displaying a multitude of different terrains in the new image taken from a distance of 62 kilometers.

Meanwhile the Rosetta science team is using the OSIRIS and navcam camera images to create a preliminary map of the comets surface. The map is color coded to divide the comet into several distinct morphological regions.

“With various areas dominated by cliffs, depressions, craters, boulders or even parallel grooves, 67P/C-G displays a multitude of different terrains. Some areas even appear to have been shaped by the comet’s activity,” the Rosetta team said in the release.

The images were also shown at today’s scientific presentations at a special Rosetta research session at the 2014 European Planetary Science Congress being held in Cascais, Portugal.

The scientists are striving to meld all the imagery and data gathered from Rosetta’s 11 instruments in order to elucidate the composition and evolution of the different regions.

The mapping data is also being used to narrow the ‘Top 5’ Philae landing site candidates down to a primary and backup choice.

The final landing site selections will be made at a meeting being held this weekend on 13 and 14 September 2014 between the Rosetta Lander Team and the Rosetta orbiter team at CNES in Toulouse, France.

[BenLurkin]

Four-image photo mosaic comprising images taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera on 31 August 2014 from a distance of 61 km from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mosaic has been rotated and contrast enhanced to bring out details. The comet nucleus is about 4 km across. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM/Ken Kremer/Marco Di Lorenzo

Several morphologically different regions are indicated in this preliminary map, which is oriented with the comet’s ‘body’ in the foreground and the ‘head’ in the background. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

[Jack Hydrazine]

How cute that the scientific imaging system on the orbiter of ESA’s Rosetta mission to comet is called OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris

The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic.

What is dying on this comet and will rise from the dead?

[BenLurkin]

The only thing dying on that comet is the money sunk on the project. Some knowledge might arise from that — I certainly hope so!

These cutesy astro-names drive me nuts anyway. I wish the space agencies would give it a rest.

[Raycpa]

I’ll have mine in a cup with cherries and chocolate syrup.

[Steely Tom]

That thing is not much smaller than Mount Everest.

[Vermont Lt]

Or, some guy with a knack for acronyms came up with the name. At one company, I was that guy. I would name the projects. I became a “thing.”

Trust me, no one put THAT much thought into it.

[going hot]

When dripping melting plastic into a bucket of water, I get similar shapes.

Wonder if this comet was not blasted off some planet via collision, went out into space and solidified, slowly falling into the sun, then slingshot back out, over and over.

[UCANSEE2]

It looks like a duck decoy.

[going hot]

A used one, with shortsighted hunters.

[Patriot Babe]

The first picture look like a Turkey head with a large plump body for Thanksgiving.

[fwdude]

How does a comet differ from an asteroid, exactly?

[Rome2000]

Asteroids look like this:

[cynwoody]

How does a comet differ from an asteroid, exactly?

Asteroids orbit the Sun more or less the way the planets do, except mostly in the asteroid belt, which lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Their orbits are more or less circular, keeping them out of trouble.

Comets have irregular orbits, typically highly eccentric. They spend most of their time far away from the Sun and out of sight. Every so often, their orbits bring them close to the Sun, which boils off volatile material as they approach, resulting in a visible tail. Of course, if they encounter a planet during their close approach to the Sun, the results can be interesting.

[MurrietaMadman]

Isis... Osiris... I guess Horus is due up next. Don’t have a clue to what it all means but these Hoagland videos give us a clue about where it is supposed to end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBSHcZ5lkI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rz_XAt1bK0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp33b1gh9Zw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bntSw86S6Qc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCA8Q1iPX00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIBmgn45_eg

[urbanpovertylawcenter]

Nessie?

[PIF]

“Wonder if this comet was not blasted off some planet via collision ...”

That was Tom Van Flandern’s theory ... two planets in this solar system exploded (reasons too long for here) and created what we call comets and much of the asteroids.

[norwaypinesavage]

We are looking at Obama’s only legacy: a little landing craft, landing on a meaningless rock, in the vast nothingness of space, for no purpose but to create a meaningless legacy, sometime in the distant future.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Looks interesting. Thanks!

[fwdude]

I’m talking about composition and construction. Comets obviously are constructed differently to “boil off” a tail, when other objects within similar distances to the sun do not.

[BenLurkin]

It remind me of this: http://thewildones.faketrix.com/content/pictures/original/McDonalds-deep-fried-chicken-head-happy-meal.jpg