View allAll Photos Tagged 67P.
There are 4 little grebes at the St James Lake (Paris).
Since few weeks they have now their breeding plumage.
Hard to approach, so these photos have been heavily cropped.
(DSC08245_DxO-TIFF_1+2-3s+67p => DSC08245-denoise154800-sharpen507000-13)
Frames recorded at DeepSkyWest with a Takahashi FSQ106EDXIII and QSI683.
L: 32x900s
RGB: (12, 13, 15)x600s
Copyright: R. Colombari
Note: Comet 67P was passing through the field. Its passage is visible near the tidal tail of NGC3628
______________________________
Leo Triplet
Explanation: A mere 30 million light-years away, large spiral galaxy NGC 3628 (center left) shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals, in a magnificent grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplet. In fact, fellow trio member M65 is near the center right edge of this deep cosmic group portrait, with M66 just above it and to the left. But, perhaps most intriguing is the spectacular tail stretching down for about 300,000 light-years from NGC 3628's warped, edge-on disk. Known as a tidal tail, the structure has been drawn out of the galaxy by gravitational tides during brief but violent past interactions with its large neighbors. Not often imaged so distinctly, the tidal tail is composed of young bluish star clusters and star-forming regions.
Source: APOD
DESCRIPTION: I tested to capture relatively bright comet on sky (8-9m) by my 500 mm lens. Unfortunately I could collect only 18 minutes data before weather worsened. Comet is now in constellation Gemini (RA 7h40’, DEC 26°33’) and maybe is visible by binocular or smaller astro telescope. Picture FOV is approx 0,8°x1°
GEAR: Nikon Z7 Kolari Full Spectrum + Nikkor 500/5,6 PF, Astronomic UV/IR/L2 Clip in filter, Dew heater strip. Sensor pixel scale 1,79 arcsec/px, tracking mount iOptron CEM60EC - 3 star alignment, no auto guiding.
ACQUISITION: November 6, 2021, Struz, CZ, Subexposure 180s, f 5,6, ISO 1600, Interval 15 s, RAW-L, Light 6x, Dark 20x, Bias 15x, Flat 15x. Total exposure time 18 min. Night, no wind, 0° C, Backyard - light pollution - Bortle 5.
STACKING AND POST PROCESSING: AstroPixelProcessor (stacking on comet mode, background neutralisation, light pollution removal, calibrate background and stars colours) ,, Adobe Photoshop CC 2021 (stretching, black and white point settings, star dim, enhance DSO, noise reduction, contrast setting). Cropped 14 x, image size 1600 x 2000 px.
The comet was drifting slowly toward west northwest in cancer. Tails were beautiful. Dust trails were still visible faintly both toward west northwest and east southeast on enhanced frame.
I found here a nice 3D view: "Comet 67P Churyumov Gerasimenko 3D model 360 spin (equatorial lat, with dust)" by 3DMalmer
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBltmJ2qzdM
Exposure was short due to guide failure. I found that some screws were not fastened tightly afterwards. I will try imaging of the object next new moon weekend.
Sun distance: 1.421AU
Earth distance: 0.482AU
equipment: AstroPhysics 130GTX "Granturismo," Field Flattener at f/6.7 focal length 873mm, 22.1mm Spacer, EOS Adapter, Kipon EOS-EOS R adapter, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on Vixen AXD Equatorial Mount, auto guided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, GPUSB, and PHD2 Guiding with comet tracking on
exposure: 11 times x 240 seconds at ISO 6,400 and f/6.7 focal length 873mm
The first exposure started at 13:08:35UTC January 1, 2022.
site: 856m above sea level at lat. 34 51 46 North and long. 138 50 37 East near Nishina Pass in Shizuoka 静岡県仁科峠. SQM-L was 21.14 after the end of twilight, and Ambient temperature was around -8 degrees Celsius or 18 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild.
T68 iTelescope 6 x 120 sec
Comet mag 9.8
Because of the Rosetta mission and the landing on THIS comet with all the detail known it is great to see it in action with a nice tail.
The ghostly green glow in this image reveals the presence of 46P Wirtanen – a relatively small comet with an estimated diameter of 1.2 kilometers. Had the path of history taken a different course, we would have much more than estimates about this Jupiter-family comet.
Completing one full orbit of the Sun every 5.4 years, 46P/Wirtanen was the original target of ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft. With the original launch window missed, the now famous comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko instead became the first ever visited by a human spacecraft and probe.
Five years ago this week, on 19 January 2014, Rosetta’s internal alarm clock woke up the spacecraft following a 31-month deep-space hibernation. In one of the most exciting moments for Rosetta scientists and mission operators on Earth, the spacecraft called back home confirming everything was working fine and that it has survived the most distant part of its journey.
The recent visit of 46P Wirtanen reminds us of the remarkable achievement that was the Rosetta mission, the dynamic nature of space exploration and the flexibility of mission teams who seamlessly moved from one green and remote Solar System comet to another, rubber duck shaped body.
This stunning photo was taken by photographer Ollie Taylor over the famous ‘Durdle Door’ rock arch on the Dorset Jurassic Coast, on the evening of 9 December 2018. Check out more of Ollie’s images on his website.
Credits: Ollie Taylor. Used with permission
Rosetta’s lander Philae has been identified in OSIRIS narrow-angle camera images taken on 2 September 2016 from a distance of 2.7 km. The image scale is about 5 cm/pixel.
Philae’s 1 m-wide body and two of its three legs can be seen extended from the body. The images also provide proof of Philae’s orientation.
A Rosetta Navigation Camera image taken on 16 April 2015 is shown at top right for context, with the approximate location of Philae on the small lobe of Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko marked.
Read the feature article here.
Credit: Main image and lander inset: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; context: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko
13 Dicembre 2021 - 23.08u.t.
Località: San Romualdo - Ravenna
Tecnosky AG70 - Avalon M1
Celestron OAG - QHY5III 174M
QSI583ws raffreddata -20 - Filtri RGB Astrodon RGB GenII E-series
RGB: R (15x2'), G (15x2'), B (15x2') in Bin1
Acquisizione: MaximDL5 - immagine calibrata con bias, dark e flat
Elaborazione: MaximDL5, Astroart8, StarTools1.6, Paint Shop Pro2021, Topaz e Nik plug-in.
This turbine is mounted on Pilatus PC-12/45 and PC-12/47 known as Legacy.
On PC-12/47E known as NG, it's another version (PT6/67P). Mainly the same, thus the coatage on turbine blades can support higher temperature.
My intention was to prepare many times longest exposures, but clouds interfered the session soon.
The comet was drifting toward southwest in galaxy-rich area in Cancer. Tails, small dust coma, and bluish green ion coma were beautiful.
Sun Distance: 1.614au
Earth Distance: 0.636au
equipment: AstroPhysics 130GTX "Granturismo," Field Flattener at f/6.7 focal length 873mm, 22.1mm Spacer, EOS Adapter, Kipon EOS-EOS R adapter, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on Vixen AXD Equatorial Mount, auto guided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, GPUSB, and PHD2 Guiding with comet tracking on
exposure: 1 time x 900 seconds, 4 x 240 sec, and 4 x 60 seconds at ISO 3,200 and f/6.7
First exposure started at 16:30:42 January 29, 2022 UTC.
site: 1,466m above sea level at lat. 35 48 26 North and long. 138 39 24 East near Kotogawa dam in Yamanashi. 山梨県牧丘柳平
SQM-L was up to 21.28 at the night. Ambient temperature was around -8 degrees Celsius or 17 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild and silent.
✺ Oscar-winning Greek composer Vangelis (Papathanasiou) has been commissioned to write three musical numbers for the Rosetta ESA mission.
✺ The Singing Comet 67P/C-G & Rosetta Space Mission :
✺ ESA : "Today,14 Nov. 2014, we have made space history!"
✺The deep blue Aegean and Ionian waters,the stately Mountains and the Rocks send electromagnetic waves and signals to Vangelis and he transforms them into musical scores ♬♬(◦'⌣'◦)♬♬ ...
✺The world-renowned musician, Vangelis composes a piece of music specially for European Space Agency and inspired by the Rosetta mission.The Greek composer Vangelis' music is often linked to themes of science, history and exploration, and he is best known for his Academy Award–winning score for the film Chariots of Fire as well as composing scores for the films Antarctica, Blade Runner, 1492: Conquest of Paradise and Alexander.
✺ PS : My photo-collage is created from 2 photos I blended and which I had taken in the Greek island of Paxos-Paxi.
✺ Dedicated to the Greek composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou and To the Greek astrophysicist and NASA Senior Planetary Scientist,Thanasis Economou.The Greek scientist has received an award by NASA for his longtime contribution to space research.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJrUnzLsmZk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUpSVxoCcik
✺ ✺✺Thanks kindly my friends for all comments and faves ✺ ✺ ✺
And this one dedicated to all my beloved friends with Love and Respect :
Vangelis - Mythodea - for the NASA Mission Mars Odyssey 2001
This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observation has captured the galaxy CGCG 396-2, an unusual multi-armed galaxy merger which lies around 520 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion.
This observation is a gem from the Galaxy Zoo project, a citizen science project in which hundreds of thousands of volunteers classified galaxies to help scientists solve a problem of astronomical proportions — how to sort through the vast amounts of data generated by robotic telescopes. Following a public vote, a selection of the most astronomically intriguing objects from the Galaxy Zoo were selected for follow-up observations with Hubble. CGCG 396-2 is one such object, and was captured in this image by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.
The Galaxy Zoo project originated when an astronomer was set an impossibly mind-numbing task; classifying more than 900 000 galaxies by eye. By making a web interface and inviting citizen scientists to contribute to the challenge, the Galaxy Zoo team was able to crowdsource the analysis, and within six months a legion of 100 000 volunteer citizen astronomers had contributed more than 40 million galaxy classifications.
Since its initial success, the Galaxy Zoo project and its successor projects have contributed to more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and led to a rich variety of intriguing astronomical discoveries above and beyond their initial goals. The success of the project also inspired more than 100 citizen science projects on the Zooniverse portal, ranging from analysing data from the ESA Rosetta spacecraft's visit to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to counting killer whales around remote Alaskan islands!
Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, W. Keel; CC BY 4.0
On 30 September 2016, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft came closer than ever to the target it had studied from afar for more than two years, concluding its mission with a controlled impact onto the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G).
This second comet landing followed the pioneering endeavour of Rosetta’s lander, Philae, which became the first probe to successfully touch down on a comet on 12 November 2014.
With a suite of 11 scientific instruments on board, Rosetta collected an impressive amount of images and other data at this now iconic comet, scanning its surface, probing its interior, scrutinising the gas and dust in its surroundings, and exploring its plasma environment. Scientists have been using these measurements to advance our understanding of comets as well as of the history of our Solar System.
This image shows a portion of 67P/C-G as viewed by Rosetta on 22 September 2014, only one and a half months after the spacecraft had made its rendezvous with the comet. At the time, the spacecraft was 28.2 km from the comet centre (around 26.2 km from the surface). Amateur astronomer Jacint Roger Perez, from Spain, selected and processed this view by combining three images taken in different wavelengths by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Rosetta.
Seen in the centre and left of the frame is Seth, one of the geological regions on the larger of the two comet lobes, which declines towards the smoother Hapi region on the comet’s ‘neck’ that connects the two lobes. The landscape in the background reveals hints of the Babi and Aker regions, both located on the large lobe of 67P/C-G. For a wider image of this region in the overall context of the comet see here.
The sharp profile in the lower part of the image shows the Aswan cliff, a 134 m-high scarp separating the Seth and Hapi regions. Observations performed by Rosetta not long before the comet’s perihelion, which took place on 13 August 2015, revealed that a chunk of this cliff had collapsed – a consequence of increased activity as the comet drew closer to the Sun along its orbit.
Explore the full mission image archive yourself and let us know what hidden treasures you find via @esascience.
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; J. Roger – CC BY 4.0
It is always reassuring to catch that first familiar glimpse of home after a great adventure, but for our space-faring satellites the return visit is brief and of a practical nature: to use the planet’s immense gravity to sling it onto a new trajectory.
These ‘gravity assists’ are fleeting encounters, but enough to change the spacecraft’s speed and direction such that it can eventually enter orbit around another world.
This delicate view of Earth was captured in 2007 on the second of three Earth flybys made by ESA’s comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft on its ten year journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spacecraft also got a boost from Mars to set it on course with its destination.
The first ever interplanetary gravity slingshot took place on 5 February 1974, when NASA’s Mariner 10 flew past Venus en route to flybys of Mercury. The ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission – whose name is inherited from Giuseppe Colombo who originally proposed to NASA the interplanetary trajectories that would allow Mariner-10 multiple Mercury flybys by using gravity assists at Venus – will make nine flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury to reach the innermost planet and eventually enter orbit about it.
Similarly, ESA’s upcoming Solar Orbiter mission will use Venus gravity assists to change its inclination to get a better look at the Sun’s poles. And ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer will first dive into the inner Solar System to use Earth, Venus and Mars to set course for the gas giant Jupiter.
But Earth remains home to a fleet of satellites busy performing a number of different activities from orbit: while some are peering far away into the cosmos, our Earth Observation missions are watching diligently over our precious planet, taking its ‘pulse’ and helping us to better understand how to care for it. The Sun-illuminated crescent seen around Antarctica in this beautiful image certainly evokes a feeling of fragility and reminds us of our special place in space.
The image was taken by the OSIRIS camera on Rosetta about two hours before closest approach during the 13 November 2007 flyby, when the spacecraft was 75 000 km from Earth. The mission went on to become the first to rendezvous with and land on a comet, and the first to follow and study a comet on its orbit around the Sun.
Credits: ESA ©2005 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/DASP/IDA
Skygazers across the Northern Hemisphere are being treated to stunning views of comet NEOWISE as it streaks past Earth. Amateur astrophotographer Javier Manteca got a bonus: the International Space Station and the comet are both seen transiting Madrid in this photo captured 11 July.
Taken at dawn, the picture is a composition of 17 stacked images exposed every 2.5 seconds to form the skyline.
Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE is named after NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer mission that discovered it in March 2020. The comet completed its perihelion, or closest pass of the Sun, on 3 July and is headed back out of our Solar System, not to return for another 6800 years.
Comets are the icy remnants from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago, prompting scientists to think of them as cosmic time capsules. Comets have distinctive tails caused by dust grains being swept away from the comet’s nucleus.
The comet's flyby of Earth is a rare opportunity to observe and collect data on these cosmic time capsules. Many spacecraft have observed the comet, including the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory as well as astronauts on board the International Space Station.
ESA’s comet chaser Rosetta trailed comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for two years before landing the Philae probe on its surface. The mission amassed a wealth of data that will be studied for years to come.
As comet NEOWISE zooms past Earth at a comfortable (and safe) distance of 103 million kilometres, stargazers can catch more views of the comet through July. Consult Earth and Sky or Astronomy Now for times and positions.
Credits: Javier Manteca
Operations Image of the Week: Comet relay
Seventy-four weeks ago, on 12 November 2014, ESA’s Rosetta mission soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet – the first time that such an extraordinary feat had been achieved.
This image shows the 35 m-diameter deep-space tracking station at Malargüe, Argentina, during Philae’s touchdown that day. At the time of this photo, the station was receiving data from the lander, relayed via the Rosetta comet orbiter, and was in turn relaying the information to the mission control team at ESA’s control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
Credit: ESA–D. Pazos
More info here.
KTMB 20/02/23 built 2014 and still in the colours of it's previous operator the Afghanistan Air force with the markings YA-1450 still visible.
An old friend of ESA, Comet 46P/Wirtanen, is crossing our skies this month.
The comet nucleus is at the core of the brightest spot at the centre of the image, and the green diffuse cloud is its coma. The green colour is caused by molecules – mainly CN (cyanogen) and C2 (diatomic carbon) – that are ionised by sunlight as the comet approaches the Sun. A hint of the comet’s tail is visible to the upper left; the diagonal stripes are star trails.
A bright comet with a period of 5.5 years, 46P had been chosen in the 1990s as the target of ESA’s Rosetta mission. However, a launch delay from 2003 to 2004 meant the spacecraft would not be able to rendezvous with that comet at its closest approach to the Sun in 2013, prompting the Rosetta team to select a new target, the now famed 67P/Churyumov-–Gerasimenko.
Comet 46P was at perihelion, the closest point to the Sun along its orbit, on 12 December, and kept moving towards our planet, reaching the closest distance to Earth on 16 December.
Astronomers across the world – professional, student and amateur alike – have been observing the comet recently, and will keep doing so in coming weeks as it moves away from the Sun along its orbit.
This image was taken by Wouter Van Reeven at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) near Madrid, Spain, on 14 December 2018. It is a composite of 132 individual images, each with a 10 second exposure, using a William Optics ZS 71 ED (71 mm refractor) telescope and a Canon EOS 700D DSLR camera (ISO: 3200). The field of view spans 2.8 degrees x 1.8 degrees.
More information: December comet brings back Rosetta memories
Credits: ESA / ESAC Astronomy Club / W. Van Reeven
Enlarged & 'Cleaned' up the Noise! There was lots of noise....
Comet 67p - Original Image 4.2 Mega Pixel....
Adjusted Image is now 236 Mega Pixels and doesn't fall apart on zoom - This was my goal to make the image a little more explore-able with clarity and depth......
(abbreviated as 67P or 67P/C-G)
Space Science image of the week:
These 210 images reflect Rosetta’s ever-changing view of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko between July 2014 and September 2016.
The sequence begins in the month leading up to Rosetta’s arrival on 6 August, when the comet was barely a few pixels in the field of view. Suddenly, the curious shape was revealed and Rosetta raced to image its surface, coming within 10 km, to find a suitable place for Philae to land just three months later.
Philae’s landing is featured with the ‘farewell’ images taken by both spacecraft of each other shortly after separation, and by Philae as it drew closer to the surface at its first touchdown point. An image taken at the final landing site is also shown.
The subsequent images, taken by Rosetta, reflect the varying distance from the comet as well as the comet’s rise and fall in activity as they orbited the Sun.
Before the comet reached its most active phase in August 2015, Rosetta was able to make some close flybys, including one in which the lighting geometry from the Sun was such that the spacecraft’s shadow could be seen on the surface.
Then, owing to the increase of dust in the local environment, Rosetta had to maintain a safer distance and carry out scientific observations from afar, but this also gave some impressive views of the comet’s global activity, including jets and outburst events.
Once the activity began to subside, Rosetta could come closer again and conduct science nearer to the nucleus, including capturing more high-resolution images of the surface, and looking out for changes after this active period.
Eventually, as the comet returned to the colder outer Solar System, so the available solar power to operate Rosetta fell. The mission concluded with Rosetta making its own dramatic descent to the surface on 30 September 2016. A selection of the final images taken are reflected in the last images shown in this montage.
See a version of this image as a movie .
Explore thousands of Rosetta images in our Archive Image Browser.
More about Rosetta and its science discoveries.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0; ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA; ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR
A colour image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko composed of three images taken with the Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) of the scientific imaging system OSIRIS in red (centred at 744 nm wavelength), green (536 nm), and blue (481 nm) filters on 6 August 2014 from a distance of 120 kilometres. The image covers roughly 4 x 4 km at a resolution of about 3.9 metres per pixel.
More information via the blog: Comet 67P/C-G in living colour: blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/12/12/comet-67pc-g-in-living-c...
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Assembled using IR, orange, and blue filtered images taken using the OSIRIS instrument aboard the ESA's Rosetta spacecraft.
ESA / MPS / OSIRIS Team / Kevin M. Gill
A specially upgraded radio-frequency chamber in ESA’s technical heart is testing what is set to become the smallest radar system to be flown in space, hosted aboard a breadbox-sized spacecraft.
Scheduled to fly to the Didymos binary asteroid system with ESA’s Hera mission for planetary defence in 2024, the compact radar aboard the Juventas CubeSat will perform the first ever radar sounding inside an asteroid. Juventas will peer up to 100 m deep within the 160-m-diameter Dimorphos moonlet of the 780-m-diameter Didymos asteroid.
CubeSats are mini-satellites built up from standardised 10-cm boxes. Juventas is a ‘6-unit’ CubeSat, measuring 10x20x30 cm, while its quartet of radar antennas measure 1.5 m long each. So the test campaign includes a structural model of the Juventas CubeSat, to evaluate how the body of the miniature spacecraft might affect the radar signals.
The test campaign is taking place inside the ‘Hybrid European Radio Frequency and Antenna Test Zone’ or Hertz chamber at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands. However testing here only became feasible after a skillful upgrade.
“An essential element of anechoic test chambers like Hertz are the radio-absorbing foam spikes lining the inside walls, allowing tests to mimic the infinite void of space,” explains ESA antenna engineer Paul Moseley.
“But typically Hertz can only test down to 400 MHz, while Hertz’s main antennas will radiate at 60 MHz. At this frequency the spikes no longer absorb signals, so instead of a dark room the chamber would be turned into a hall of mirrors, throwing out multiple radio reflections that interfere with the accuracy of our measurements.”
ESA’s Hertz team worked with MVG in Italy to devise a new setup making lower frequency testing possible, initially as part of a general upgrade but then specially targeted to enable Juventas testing.
Paul adds: “It’s a combination of hardware and software that allows us to measure in this environment but still reconstruct the correct results, including fibreglass support towers that are transparent to antennas and software that combines measurements made at many different points across the room, in order to cancel out the reflection effects.”
Franco Perez Lissi of ESA’s CubeSats Systems Unit is overseeing the Juventas testing: “We’re measuring the radiation pattern in a full sphere surrounding the antennas- the results of which should also be very useful for Juventas’s critical design review, taking place next month – as well as the total radiated power. This entire campaign additionally serves as a dress rehearsal of sorts for the flight model of Juventas, which is scheduled to be tested here in early 2023.”
The radar aboard Juventas is developed from the Rosetta spacecraft’s CONSERT radar system, which peered into the interior of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is a synthetic aperture radar design, meaning it will take advantage of Juventas’s orbit 3 km above the surface of Dimorphos to integrate together multiple signal reflections and resolve them into images.
“We are proud to see Rosetta’s legacy living on in the next generation of deep-space missions,” adds Alain Herique of the University of Grenoble, Principal Investigator of Juventa’s JuRa low-frequency radar.
Juventas is being led for ESA by GomSpace company in Luxembourg with GMV in Romania, with its radar developed by the Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble group at the University Grenoble and Technical University Dresden, with Astronika in Poland constructing the antennas and EmTroniX in Luxembourg contributing the signal generation system.
Hera will also be embarking a second deep space CubeSat, the Italian-led Milani, which will employ a multispectral imager to prospect the asteroid’s surface composition. Hera will be preceded to the Didymos asteroids by NASA’s DART spacecraft which will perform a test deflection of the smaller body. DART is due for launch next Wednesday, 24 November.
Credits: ESA-P. de Maagt
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is seen in Gemini during the early morning hours of November 13, 2021. The image is made of 36 twenty second exposures taken with a Canon 80D and a Canon 200 mm f/2.8L II lens. (ISO 800, f/3.5). Tracking was done using an iOptron Sky Tracker with stacking in Nebulosity.
NAVCAM image of Comet 67P/C-G taken on 14 June, when Rosetta was 203 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The resolution is 17.3 m/pixel and the image measures 17.7 km across.
The original image and more information is available on the blog: CometWatch 14 June.
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence. The user is allowed to reproduce, distribute, adapt, translate and publicly perform this publication, without explicit permission, provided that the content is accompanied by an acknowledgement that the source is credited as 'ESA - European Space Agency’, a direct link to the licence text is provided and that it is clearly indicated if changes were made to the original content. Adaptation/translation/derivatives must be distributed under the same licence terms as this publication. The user must not give any suggestion that ESA necessarily endorses the modifications that you have made. No warranties are given. The licence may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material. Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from ESA. To view a copy of this licence, please visit creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo
I never imagined I would EVER get any of the Leo Triplet with my setup and this is a first attempt. Very noisy due to stretching the image to show the faint fuzzy mag. 16.5 blob that is comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Only ended up with 10 mins of usable 60 sec data at ISO 1600 due to racing clouds (actually clear when I set up originally at 20.30 BST. Should have hung around for more data but the wind was getting too intense so packed away.
Equipment: Skywatcher 120ED Esprit (840mm) at F7
Focal reducer 0.8
Celestron AVX (unguided - hence slight trailing)
Canon 700D (unmodded)
NGC 3628 (the one I cut off!), M66, M65 - the Leo Triplet. Other faint galaxies are IC 2745 and IC 2763.
67P is hanging around this region for my DSLR's FOV for at least another 3 days. Had I more time I'd probably have tried for at least 60-70 x 60 second images for a decent blob and tail.
Here is a view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on 27 Feb 2022. Some of the gaps are from the removal of cloudy images during the run. Stats at the time the image was taken:
Right Ascension: 08h 23m 01.2s Declination: 26° 54' 37.6" (J2000)
Magnitude: 11.1 (Observed: COBS) Constellation: Cancer
Sun Distance: 273,951,572 km [26.7 km/s] Earth Distance: 140,817,219 km [23.0 km/s]
Perihelion: 23 Jan 2022 07:06 UTC [+34d 19h 27m 56s]
Tech Specs: Orion 8" f/8 Ritchey-Chretien Astrograph Telescope, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC and ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF, 90 x 60 seconds at -10C plus darks and flats, processed using PixInsight and DSS. Image Date: February 21, 2022 @ 02:30 (UT). Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
The comet was small on the frame near the left upper square with small yellow lines indicating.
The comet was drifting toward south southeast through dust-rich area in Cancer. Dust coma was small, and tail got shorter and fainter than before. Greenish ion halo got also far fainter than before. North is up, and east is to the left.
Here is a frame of the comet taken with AstroPhysics 130GTX.
www.flickr.com/photos/hiroc/51923007256
Sun Distance: 1.866au
Earth Distance: 1.001au
equipment: Sigma 40mmF1.4 "Art" and Canon EOS 6D-SP4, modified by Seo-san on Vixen AXD Equatorial Mount, auto guided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, GPUSB, and PHD2 Guiding with comet tracking on
exposure: 26 time x 480 seconds, 3 x 240 sec, and 3 x 60 seconds at ISO 1,600 and f/3.2
First exposure started at 10:16:19 March 3, 2022 UTC.
site: 1,466m above sea level at lat. 35 48 26 North and long. 138 39 24 East near Kotogawa dam in Yamanashi. 山梨県牧丘柳平
Ambient temperature was around -2 degrees Celsius or 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild. SQML was 20.76 at the night. Seeing was awful as usual.
Here is a view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as it is making its way through the constellation Gemini. Closest approach to Earth will be on 11/12 November 2021.
Tech Specs: Sky Watcher Esprit 120ED, Celestron CGEM-DX pier mounted, ZWO ASI290MC and ASI071MC-Pro, ZWO AAPlus, ZWO EAF. 82 x 60 seconds at -10C plus darks and flats. Image Date: October 27, 2021. Location: The Dark Side Observatory, Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
This is Rosetta OSIRIS's latest image of Comet #67P on 05 March 2016 from a distance of 20km.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Read more here.
I planned to make exposure long and many times, but clouds and snow fall interrupted my intention soon again.
The comet was drifting toward west southwest in Cancer. Dust coma was small, and tails got shorter and fainter than before.
Sun Distance: 1.666au
Earth Distance: 0.697au
equipment: AstroPhysics 130GTX "Granturismo," Field Flattener at f/6.7 focal length 873mm, 22.1mm Spacer, EOS Adapter, Kipon EOS-EOS R adapter, and Canon EOS R-SP4II, modified by Seo-san on Vixen AXD Equatorial Mount, auto guided at a star nearby with Fujinon 1:2.8/75mm C-Mount Lens, Pentax x2 Extender, ZWO ASI 120MM-mini, GPUSB, and PHD2 Guiding with comet tracking on
exposure: 4 time x 240 seconds and 10 x 60 seconds at ISO 3,200 and f/6.7
First exposure started at 13:06:50 February 5, 2022 UTC.
site: 1,050m above sea level at lat. 34 52 22 North and long. 139 01 26 East in Izu Amagi Highland, Shizuoka 静岡県伊豆天城高原.
Ambient temperature was around -6 degrees Celsius or 21 degrees Fahrenheit. Wind was mild and silent.
Rosetta's OSIRIS camera took this image from a distance of 4km on 8 September 2016.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Space Science image of the week:
Perhaps you live in a part of the world where you regularly experience snow storms or even dust storms. But for many of us, the weather forms a natural part of everyday conversation – more so when it is somewhat extreme, like a sudden blizzard that renders transport useless or makes you feel highly disoriented as you struggle to fix your sights on recognisable landmarks.
ESA’s Rosetta mission had a similar experience, for more than two years, as it flew alongside Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko between 2014 and 2016. It endured the endless impacts of dust grains launched by gaseous outpourings as the comet’s surface ices were warmed by the heat of the Sun, evaporating into space and dragging the dust along.
This image was taken two years ago, on 21 January 2016, when Rosetta was flying 79 km from the comet. At this time Rosetta was moving closer following perihelion in the previous August, when the comet was nearer to the Sun and as such at its most active, meaning that Rosetta had to operate from a greater distance for safety.
As can be seen from the image, the comet environment was still extremely chaotic with dust even five months later. The streaks reveal the dust grains as they passed in front of Rosetta’s camera, captured in the 146 second exposure.
Excessive dust in Rosetta’s field of view presented a continual risk for navigation: the craft’s startrackers used a star pattern recognition function to know its orientation with respect to the Sun and Earth. On some occasions flying much closer to the comet, and therefore through denser regions of outflowing gas and dust, the startrackers locked on to dust grains instead of stars, creating pointing errors and in some cases putting the spacecraft in a temporary safe mode.
Despite its dangers, the dust was of high scientific interest: three of Rosetta’s instruments studied tens of thousands of grains between them, collectively analysing their composition, their mass, momentum and velocity, and profiling their 3D structure. Studying the smallest and the most pristine grains ejected is helping scientists to understand the building blocks of comets.
Two years before the image was taken, 20 January 2014, Rosetta was only just waking up from 31 months of deep-space hibernation. It arrived at its destination after 10 years in space in August 2014, and released the lander Philae three months later. Rosetta made unique scientific observations of the comet until reaching its grand finale on 30 September 2016 by descending to the comet’s surface. By the end of the mission, more than a hundred thousand images had been taken by the high-resolution OSIRIS camera (including the one shown here) and the navigation camera, the majority of which are available to browse in the Archive Image Browser.
Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Last week marked five years since ESA’s Rosetta probe arrived at its target, a comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (or 67P/C-G). Tomorrow, 13 August, it will be four years since the comet, escorted by Rosetta, reached its perihelion – the closest point to the Sun along its orbit. This image, gathered by Rosetta a couple of months after perihelion, when the comet activity was still very intense, depicts the nucleus of the comet with an unusual companion: a chunk of orbiting debris (circled).
Comet 67P/C-G is a dusty object. As it neared its closest approach to the Sun in late July and August 2015, instruments on Rosetta recorded a huge amount of dust enshrouding the comet. This is tied to the comet’s proximity to our parent star, its heat causing the comet’s nucleus to release gases into space, lifting the dust along. Spectacular jets were also observed, blasting more dust away from the comet. This disturbed, ejected material forms the ‘coma’, the gaseous envelope encasing the comet’s nucleus, and can create a beautiful and distinctive tail.
A single image from Rosetta’s OSIRIS instrument can contain hundreds of dust particles and grains surrounding the 4 km-wide comet nucleus. Sometimes, even larger chunks of material left the surface of 67P/C-G – as shown here.
The sizeable chunk in this view was spotted a few months ago by astrophotographer Jacint Roger from Spain, who mined the Rosetta archive, processed some of the data, and posted the finished images on Twitter as an animated GIF. He spotted the orbiting object in a sequence of images taken by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on 21 October 2015. At that time, the spacecraft was at over 400 km away from 67P/C-G’s centre. The animated sequence is available for download here.
Scientists at ESA and in the OSIRIS instrument team are now looking into this large piece of cometary debris in greater detail. Dubbed a ‘Churymoon’ by researcher Julia Marín-Yaseli de la Parra, the chunk appears to span just under 4 m in diameter.
Modelling of the Rosetta images indicates that this object spent the first 12 hours after its ejection in an orbital path around 67P/C-G at a distance of between 2.4 and 3.9 km from the comet’s centre. Afterwards, the chunk crossed a portion of the coma, which appears very bright in the images, making it difficult to follow its path precisely; however, later observations on the opposite side of the coma confirm a detection consistent with the orbit of the chunk, providing an indication of its motion around the comet until 23 October 2015.
Scientists have been studying and tracking debris around 67P/C-G since Rosetta’s arrival in 2014. The object pictured in this view is likely the largest chunk detected around the comet, and will be subject to further investigations.
Comet 67P/C-G is currently in the outer Solar System, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and will have its next perihelion in late 2021.
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS/OSIRIS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA/J. Roger (CC BY 4.0)
On 6 August of 2014, after a decade of travelling through interplanetary space, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft arrived at its final target: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G). The mission was the first to successfully land on a comet when it sent the lander Philae down to the surface a few months later, while the orbiter studied 67P/C-G in detail before the mission’s end on 30 September 2016.
Over its lifetime Rosetta extensively mapped the comet’s surface, which has since been divided into 26 geological regions named after Ancient Egyptian deities. The entire comet has been likened to a duck in shape, with a small ‘head’ attached to a larger ‘body’.
This image shows a section of 67P/C-G as viewed by Rosetta’s high-resolution camera OSIRIS on 10 February 2016. Amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson, from the UK, selected and processed this view from the OSIRIS image archive. It is a crop of a larger image that shows a slightly wider view of the comet’s ‘Bes’ region on body of the comet, which takes its name from the protective deity of households, children and mothers.
It shows the uneven, shadowed surface of the comet in detail; particularly prominent just to the right of centre is an upright feature surrounded by scattered depressions, rocky outcrops and debris.
Explore the full mission image archive yourself here and let us know what hidden treasures you find via @esascience.
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA – CC BY 4.0; Acknowledgement: S Atkinson.