Cheers at the European Space Operations Centre.

Well done!

Rosetta has arrived

Time for science!!!!!!!

"We're at the comet!"
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Hello Comet!
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They are saying Rosetta is now in a heliocentric orbit matching the comet's, on the sunward side, and will continue to move along at 100km distance without orbiting
the comet for some time yet. Being closer to the sun its orbital velocity is naturally somewhat greater, and it slowly gains ground moving ahead of the comet.
Every 4 days or so they brake and fall back behind the comet, then catch up again, describing a triangular path which maintains the 100km distance.

Looking forward to some new pictures...

(GIF) Arriving...
http://blog.vitotechnology.com/?p=7165


Final approach animation (real pictures) (3 MB gif)

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/20...mation_6_August

MOD: Replaced (awesome) large in line GIFs with links

Is the rotation period known?
Or where can I find images with original timestamps?

I was putting together a final approach animation - but there are a lot of unreleased NavCam images..

So I slowed down the final 5 frames of their animation to allow a better look

http://i.imgur.com/LiPmKB1.gif


EDIT: My 1 image per day approach version : http://i.imgur.com/VuYZN78.gif

What a bizzare shape! Awesome!

Well done ROSETTA team.... and thank you for taking us along!

Craig

(Click to enlarge.)

Need to clean up the artifacts, but I'm too tired now...

Possible landing sites marked as green spots on illumination model of shape model (Youtube)

There's a coordinate system and poles marked on that animation, too.

New OSIRIS stuff in a few hours, according to the PI.

A 2D map of C-G seems like a tough order; the projection math alone...

What a moment in history.

And big shout-out to Astro0 for the terrific Forum banner celebrating this event!

What an amazing place!

Screen grab:
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More images:
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Indeed

There is an incredible amount variable terrain for such a small object. Could sublimation be the cause or is it something else?

In the press briefing it was noted that the blue represents constant shadow, the red constant light and the yellow shows areas with dark and light periods. Also from the briefing, they want the landing area 'to have a clear day/night cycle for scientific reasons.'

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Screen shots from the video linked by Emily in post 10.

Overview image of the imges posted by Astro0,
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and two images showing the zone of major dust/volatile release:
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How to figure out scale in these wonderful images?

Just a guess..... but it looks to me like the smaller component's shape, resembling half of an apple core, is the result of large amounts of material spalling off during the initial collision that formed this bizarre comet nucleus, leaving just a conical central part at the contact point - which subsequently filled in a bit with dust & debris.....

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Re-posting this very useful image by walfy of the comet on July 29th
The Burj Khalifa is about 830m tall if that works as a celestial kilometer-stick

Wow. And spooky! This was designed by Tim Burton (or maybe Terry Gilliam)

John

End to end longways is 4 km (2.5 miles). Boulders seen in the closeups were described as 'house sized'.

ADMIN EDIT: Please do not requote images when posting.

Volatiles seem to be emitted primarily from the "neck". Is this similar to what was observed at Hartley 2 I wonder?

No, it's the opposite of Hartley 2.

Phil

Maybe the neck jets represent the sublimation of superficial ice that collected in cold sinks at the end of the comet's last pass rather than indicating a deep structure of ice in the neck.

Here is a magnified "low"-resolution version of one of today's OSIRIS images (via screenshot), with a high-resolution patch of the "neck":

ADMIN EDIT: Please do not requote images when posting.

If there are no significant engineering or safety constraints, I hope that the landing site selection committee avoids the areas at the end of either lobe of the comet. There you would have a great view of the local surface and dark space above. But if they can safely land in one of those green spots closer to the neck of the comet, just imagine the spectacular view - not only of the local surface, but of the other half of the comet looming overhead.

Stereo image of the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. One image is original from OSIRIS camera (date 3.8.2014).
Second one is synthetic image obtained from OSIRIS and NavCam images. Resolution is 5.3 m/pix.
Credit for original images: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/.DASP/IDA/NavCam.

And here is cross-eye version of the same stereo image:

Wonderful achievement to be here after so many years! Congrats to ESA.

To me the surface looks like snow banks shaped after a fierce storm.

Here's a cool size comparison with London from the BBC:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/7675...a_comet_624.jpg

The cameras of Philae are pointed at the ground, thus - if all goes well - we would not be able to see the grandiose scenery overhead.

Some are pointed at the ground, but others are horizontal, Huygens style.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1IFU6kxcD8

Description of Çiva (Comet nucleus Infrared and Visible Analyzer) here.

I can't agree with the BBC graphic. The base unit is 4x2 km, while their graphic conflates the head into the scene. I am at Frankfurt Airport, so can't cut and paste. But Hal Weaver's Slide 51 refers. I have been at every Voyager encounter and more besides. This rocks!

This is fantastic 3D picture! Great work! I love it.

I have not seen much discussion on the probability that a stray particle emitted from the Comet could damage either the orbiter or lander.
Are there any papers or information on this possibility? As the Comet continues to increase activity as it approaches perihelion I would think the probability of this happening will go up.
I assume they will try to avoid the areas on the Comet with active venting for both the Orbiter and Lander although the Orbiter probably can't stay away from the active areas all the time,
and the active areas should evolve with time as we approach perihelion.

You're welcome!

Do the zones of most emission roughly coincide with those that receive the least sunlight?

Is it just me?!!

Well... yes, I think it probably is!

Phil

I see something completely different

Sublime cross-eye, thank you machi! Is this the most topographically bizarre heavenly body yet viewed in close-up?

Phew!!

I think Mr Giger would prefer more protruberences, although the lobe would appeal.

OK, how can I stay out of this? I see something more like this. Possibly a great-grandparent?

Phil

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NOTE TO SELF:
Post one more pareidolia image and then berate yourself as an admin for doing so.

I think Rosetta and Philae need to watch out for Mr Chompy here.
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ADMIN NOTE: I think we can dispense with the pareidolia comparison images now.

Long time lurker here jumping into the discussion of this strange object.

I agree and have thought for several days now that 67P/C-G just didn't look right to be a contact binary. Looking at several of the recent highest resolution images, there are large-scale features in the 'neck' area which appear to be somewhat contiguous from the 'head' to the 'body'. These appear to exhibit similar types of features and textures as is seen in both lobes i.e. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuWJaVSIcAAVgZ9.jpg:large

I think a contact binary resulting from a low-speed impact of 2 bodies and subsequent gap infilling with loose material may not likely exhibit features like those seen... somewhat linear and contiguous higher density erosion resistant features and surfaces.

Jets of dust in the long exposure image seem to be emanating primarily from the neck area; likely from the higher albedo areas. If the neck resulted from increased ablation rates in this area of an assumed initial single somewhat spherical cometary body, quite a bit of material has been lost compared to the 2 lobes. On the other hand, 103P/Hartley and 19/P Borrelly, both of which had a bowling pin shape had jets emanating primarily from the lobes.

The 3D image is absolutely incredible! I hope that models are eventually made for educational purposes. Would be cool to have on a desk stand.
Even cooler would be a mobile of all spacecraft-visited comets.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&id=33441

What a strange object.

Reminds me of a broken Wasp Nest.