A Dust Jet from the Surface of Comet 67P
Credit & Copyright: ESA,
Rosetta,
MPS, OSIRIS;
UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Explanation:
Where do comet tails come from?
There are no obvious places on the
nuclei
of comets from which the
jets that create
comet tails emanate.
Last year, though, ESA's
Rosetta spacecraft not only imaged a
jet emerging from
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but flew right through it.
Featured is
a telling picture showing a
bright plume emerging from a small circular dip bounded on one side by a 10-meter
high wall.
Analyses of Rosetta data shows that the jet was composed of both dust and water-ice.
The
mundane terrain indicates that
something likely happened far under the porous surface to create the plume.
This image was taken
last July, about two months before
Rosetta's mission ended with a controlled impact onto
Comet 67P's surface.
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.
