COBS News archive

CometWatch 24 April
May 02, 2016
This week's CometWatch was taken by Rosetta's NAVCAM on 24 April 2016, 28 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

CometWatch 19 April
April 28, 2016
This week's CometWatch features an image obtained with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 19 April 2016, 29.4 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Space science image of the week: Around Anuket
April 28, 2016
A recent NAVCAM image of Comet 67P-Churyumov Gerasimenko is featured as our ESA Space Science Image of the Week.

CometWatch 10 April
April 18, 2016
After a far excursion to explore the tail of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta is now back to closer distances from the comet nucleus. This week's CometWatch image was obtained with Rosetta's NAVCAM at 01:39 UTC on 10 April 2016, 31.4 km away.

CometWatch 4 April
April 11, 2016
This week Rosetta has been moving back towards Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko again following its far excursion in the anti-sunward direction to study the wider coma, tail and plasma environment.

CometWatch 27 March
April 04, 2016
Last week, Rosetta embarked on an excursion around 1000 km in the anti-sunward direction to study the wider coma, tail and plasma environment of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Comet’s dust trail stretches over 10 million km
March 29, 2016
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Geraimenko’s dust trail has been observed to stretch at least 10 million kilometres in the latest images taken by professional astronomers working on the ground-based observing campaign. The image mosaic shown here is composed of four images taken using the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma on the night of 12 March.

CometWatch 19 March
March 29, 2016
This week’s CometWatch entry from Rosetta’s NAVCAM was taken on 19 March from a distance of just 12 km.

CometWatch 15 March
March 29, 2016
This week's CometWatch is an image taken by Rosetta's NAVCAM on 15 March, when the spacecraft was about 13 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

New Comet: C/2016 E2 (Kowalski)
March 18, 2016
CBET nr. 4266, issued on 2016, March 16, announces the discovery of a comet (magnitude ~18) by R. A. Kowalski on CCD images obtained with the 0.68-m Schmidt telescope in the course of the Catalina Sky Survey on Mar. 15.44-15.46 UT. The new comet has been designated C/2016 E2 (Kowalski).

CometWatch 1 March
March 08, 2016
This week, CometWatch features an image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by Rosetta's NAVCAM on 1 March 2016, when the spacecraft was 26.7 km from the comet nucleus.

CometWatch February – Part 2
February 27, 2016
This week’s CometWatch entry pictures Comet 67P/C-G as seen with Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 22 February, from a distance of 32.5 km to the centre of the comet.

CometWatch February – part 1
February 23, 2016
This month, Rosetta is approaching Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 40 km or less, returning beautiful views of the nucleus and its surface features. In today's CometWatch image, we see the comet pictured by Rosetta's NAVCAM on 10 February 2016, when the spacecraft was 50.6 km from the comet nucleus.

Rosetta’s lander faces eternal hibernation
February 15, 2016
Silent since its last call to mothership Rosetta seven months ago, the Philae lander is facing conditions on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko from which it is unlikely to recover. Rosetta, which continues its scientific investigations at the comet until September before its own comet-landing finale, has in recent months been balancing science observations with flying dedicated trajectories optimised to listen out for Philae. But the lander has remained silent since 9 July 2015.

CometWatch – 5 February
February 15, 2016
Today's CometWatch is an image taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 5 February 2016, when the spacecraft was 53.4 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At these closer distances the comet is now close to filling the camera’s field of view.

Inside Rosetta’s comet
February 06, 2016
There are no large caverns inside Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA’s Rosetta mission has made measurements that clearly demonstrate this, solving a long-standing mystery.

CometWatch 28 January
February 06, 2016
Today's CometWatch is an image taken with Rosetta's NAVCAM on 28 January 2016, when the spacecraft was 67.6 km from the comet nucleus.

CometWatch – January Part 2
January 31, 2016
In this new NAVCAM view, taken 21 January, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s small lobe and its distinctive Hatmehit depression face directly towards Rosetta.

Twin tails
January 31, 2016
Amateur and professional astronomers alike have been monitoring changes in Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s tail, which, since December, has been exhibiting two prominent structures.

CometWatch 17 January
January 31, 2016
Today's CometWatch features a NAVCAM image taken on 17 January 2016, when Rosetta was 83.4 km from the comet nucleus. The scale is 7.1 m/pixel and the image measures 7.3 km across.