COBS News archive

CometWatch 22 August 2016
September 04, 2016
This week’s CometWatch entry was taken with Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 22 August 2016, when the spacecraft was 6.8 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The comet that disappeared: What happened to Ison?
August 22, 2016
Comet ISON, a bright ball of frozen matter from the earliest days of the universe, was inbound from the Oort Cloud at the edge of the solar system and expected to pierce the Sun's corona on November 28. Scientists were expecting quite a show. A new study suggests the comet actually broke up before reaching the sun.

CometWatch – early August round-up
August 16, 2016
Today’s CometWatch entry features a new image from Rosetta’s NAVCAM (below) along with a round-up of images released from the OSIRIS narrow- and wide-angle cameras in the last week.

CometWatch 6 August – Two years on
August 09, 2016
Two incredible years have passed since ESA’s comet-chaser Rosetta arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014.

CometWatch 24 July
July 29, 2016
This stunning view along the boundary between Hatmehit and Wosret was captured by Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 24 July from a distance of 9.7 km to the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Farewell, silent Philae
July 29, 2016
Tomorrow, 27 July 2016 at 09:00 UTC / 11:00 CEST, the Electrical Support System Processor Unit (ESS) on Rosetta will be switched off. The ESS is the interface used for communications between Rosetta and the lander, Philae, which has remained silent since 9 July 2015.

CometWatch 18 July
July 29, 2016
This week's CometWatch entry is an image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Rosetta's NAVCAM, taken on 16 July 2016 when the spacecraft was 9.5 km from the centre of the comet nucleus.

Final destination: Ma’at region
July 29, 2016
The decision has been made for the location of Rosetta’s controlled impact on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 30 September 2016, ending the mission.

CometWatch 9 July
July 29, 2016
This week's CometWatch image was taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 9 July 2016, when the spacecraft was 11.7 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

CometWatch 30 June
July 29, 2016
Today's CometWatch entry, also featured as ESA Space Science Image of the Week, is an image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken with Rosetta's navigation camera (NAVCAM) on 30 June 2016, from a distance of 25.8 km.

CometWatch 25 June 2016
July 05, 2016
This week's CometWatch image was taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 25 June 2016, when the spacecraft was 16.7 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Chaotic orbit of Comet Halley explained
July 01, 2016
A team of Dutch and Scottish researchers led by Simon Portegies Zwart (Leiden University) has found an explanation for the chaotic behavior of the orbit of Halley's Comet. The findings are accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

CometWatch 17 June
June 27, 2016
This week’s CometWatch entry soaks up the sights of a number of regions on both the small (right) and large (left) lobes of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image was taken by Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 17 June from a distance of 30.8 km, and the image measures about 2.7 km across.

New Comet: C/2016 K1 (LINEAR)
June 18, 2016
CBET nr. 4282, issued on 2016, June 05, announces the discovery of an apparently asteroidal object (magnitude ~18.5) found on CCD images taken on May 31 with the 3.5-m f/1 Space Surveillance Telescope on Atom Peak in the White Sands Missile Range, NM, USA, in the course of the LINEAR survey.

CometWatch 13 June
June 18, 2016
This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 13 June 2016 from a distance of 28.5 km to the centre of the comet.

CometWatch 2 June
June 16, 2016
This week's CometWatch entry is an image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 2 June 2016, when the spacecraft was 23.6 km from the comet centre.

CometWatch 19 May
May 30, 2016
This week's CometWatch entry is an image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 19 May 2016, when the spacecraft was 7.6 km from the centre of the comet nucleus and about 5.6 km from the surface.

CometWatch 15 May
May 23, 2016
This week’s CometWatch entry from Rosetta’s NAVCAM was taken on 15 May 2016 when the spacecraft was 9.88 km from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Hubble catches views of a jet rotating with Comet 252P/LINEAR
May 15, 2016
This sequence of images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shows Comet 252P/LINEAR as it passed by Earth. The visit was one of the closest encounters between a comet and our planet.

CometWatch 1 May
May 15, 2016
This week's CometWatch is an image taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 1 May 2016, when the spacecraft was 18.8 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.