Posted on 09/18/2014 11:15:44 AM PDT by blam
Jessica Orwig
September. 18, 2014.
Ten years ago the European Space Agency launched Rosetta, a first-of-its-kind spacecraft on a mission to meet a comet.
That comet? 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
It finally accomplished that goal earlier this month — getting into the comet's orbit. But it's not done yet.
This November, Rosetta will deploy a small probe that, if successful, will land on the comet — the first time we've ever made contact with a space rock (intentionally).
Before Rosetta, we knew comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as just a speck of light — as we do most comets. It's hard to really see what a comet is like because comets are extremely small. Here's what 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko looks like from Earth:
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
That photo is staged. What it really is is a dash cam view of a motorcycle coming at you on a rainy misty night on a two lane county road.
To quote C.Brown..
I got a rock.
I agree, Prospero. Current status: Mind not blown...
Blimey mate......... that’s a torch
Very cool pictures.
That’s really cool. Read somewhere that the comet is about 3 miles wide. Had no idea that they were that large. Still the gravity is microscopic, so the lander has to anchor itself with a spearing thing. And to make the landing more interesting, the comet is rotating.
Swamp Gas!
Who is "we"?
Define "space rock".
The US NEAR Shoemaker mission ended by intentionally landing on the tumbling asteroid it had been studying.
The Japanese Hayabusa mission was able to snag some dust off the surface of an asteroid.
I'm sure the Rosetta people learned from both NEAR Shoemaker and Hayabusa, since neither went exactly as planned.
Comet....it'll make your teeth turn green
Comet....it tastes like gasoline
Comet....it'll make you vomit
So get some Comet, and vomit, today.
Hmmmmmm, maybe contain “yellow metal that drives white man crazy”.
So much for the theory that a comet is a “dirty snowball.”
Cool photoshop. Puts some feeling into human scale, seeing as how comets are “tiny” as far as astronomical objects go.
Right-O. That's what one looks like when a Bobby shines it across your bonnet through your windscreen, which may or may not be made of Perpsex.
Thanks blam - cool pictures...
Thanks blam - cool pictures... I’m surprised they were expecting moisture... that’s always felt like myth...
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