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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Комета - цель Розетты http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1312269/eng |
Credit & Copyright: ESA / Rosetta / MPS
OSIRIS Team
Explanation:
The Rosetta spacecraft captured
this remarkable series
of 9 frames
between March 27 and May 4, as it closed from 5 million to
2 million kilometers of its target comet.
Cruising along a 6.5 year orbit toward closest approach
to the Sun next year, periodic comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
is seen moving past a distant background of
stars in Sagittarius and gobular star cluster M104.
The comet's developing coma
is actually visible by the end of the sequence, extending
for some 1300 km into space.
Rosetta is scheduled for an early August rendezvous with
the comet's nucleus.
Now clearly active,
the nucleus
is about 4 kilometers in diameter,
releasing the dusty coma as its dirty ices begin to
sublimate in the sunlight.
The Rosetta lander's
contact with the surface of the nucleus is anticipated in November.
Meteor Shower Hunt Tonight:
Looking for the
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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.