PIA18376: Rosetta's Comet Comes Alive


Rosetta’s Comet Comes Alive

Caption:

This sequence of images shows comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko moving against the background star field. Images were taken by the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) camera aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, between March 24 and May 4, 2014, as the spacecraft closed the distance between itself and the comet from around 3.1 million miles (5 million kilometers) to 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers). The comet is seen to develop a dust coma as the sequence progresses, with the evolving coma reaching approximately 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) into space.

For information on the U.S. instruments on Rosetta, visit http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov .

Background Info:

ESA member states and NASA contributed to the Rosetta mission. Airbus Defense and Space built the Rosetta spacecraft. JPL manages the US contribution of the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

More information about Rosetta, visit http://www.esa.int/rosetta .

For publicly released image use, see ESA's Copyright Notice Images .

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
System Periodic Comets
Target Type Comet
Mission Rosetta
Instrument Host Rosetta Orbiter
Host Type Orbiter
Instrument Optical, Spectrocopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Dust, Infrared, Movie
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2014-05-15
Date in Caption 2014-05-04
Image Credit Copyright: ESA/NASA/Rosetta/MPS
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA18376
Identifier PIA18376