Crescent Earth from the Departing Rosetta Spacecraft
Credit & Copyright: ESA
(MPS for
OSIRIS Team),
MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Explanation:
Goodbye Earth.
Earlier this month,
ESA's interplanetary
Rosetta spacecraft zoomed past the Earth
on its way back across the Solar System.
Pictured above, Earth showed a bright
crescent phase featuring the
South Pole to the passing rocket ship.
Launched from Earth in 2004,
Rosetta
used the gravity of the Earth to
help propel it out
past Mars and toward a 2014 rendezvous with
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Last year, the
robot spacecraft passed asteroid
2867 Steins,
and next year it is scheduled to pass enigmatic asteroid
21 Lutetia.
If all goes well, Rosetta will release a
probe that will land on the 15-km diameter comet in 2014.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
