COBS News archive

First release of Rosetta comet phase data from four orbiter instruments
August 04, 2015
ESA’s Rosetta downlink and archive teams are very happy to announce the release today of the first wave of Rosetta instrument data from the “comet pre-landing phase” via the Planetary Science Archive. Data from four instruments are included in this release: COSIMA, OSIRIS, ROSINA, and RPC-MAG.

Rosetta shows how comet interacts with the solar wind
July 31, 2015
This blog post is based on the papers “Evolution of the ion environment of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: Observations between 3.6 and 2.0 AU ” by H. Nilsson et al.; “Rosetta observations of solar wind interaction with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko” by T.W. Broiles et al.; and “Solar Wind Sputtering of Dust on the Surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ” by Peter Wurz et al., which have all been accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, and “Dynamical features and spatial structures of the plasma interaction region of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and the solar wind” by C. Koenders et al, which is published in Planetary and Space Science.

CometWatch 20 July
July 31, 2015
Today’s CometWatch entry was captured by Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 20 July 2015 from a distance of 171 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 14.5 m/pixel and the image measures 14.9 km across.

Video report: Rosetta orbiter science
July 24, 2015
It is almost a year since the Rosetta spacecraft began orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014. The orbiter’s eleven instruments are studying the comet at different wavelengths - infrared, ultraviolet, microwave and radio – as well as gathering high-resolution images and information about its shape, density, temperature and chemical composition.

Inside Imhotep
July 23, 2015
Imhotep, on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's large lobe, is one of the most geologically diverse regions observed by Rosetta. This blog post presents the results of a new paper by Anne-Thérese Auger from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM, France) et al, which describes Imhotep's key features and discusses possible scenarios for this region's evolution. The post was prepared with inputs from Anne-Thérese and co-author Olivier Groussin, also from LAM.

CometWatch 14 July
July 23, 2015
Today’s CometWatch entry was captured by Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 14 July 2015 from a distance of 161 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 13.7 m/pixel and the image measures 14 km across.

Getting to know Rosetta’s comet: boundary conditions
July 16, 2015
In January the first maps of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko were published, identifying 19 geomorphologically distinct regions on its surface. Six months on and much more work has been done on refining the boundaries between these regions. This blog post showcases some of the OSIRIS images acquired from close orbit and presented in a new paper that have enabled an in-depth study of the different regions and their boundaries. This post was prepared with inputs from lead author M. Ramy El-Maarry from the University of Bern, who introduces this post with an inside story on how some of the regional names were chosen:

CometWatch 7 July
July 16, 2015
Today’s CometWatch entry was taken on 7 July, from a distance of 154 km from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image resolution is 13.1 m/pixel and the image measures 13.4 km across.

Hello, Pluto!
July 16, 2015
Images obtained by OSIRIS, Rosetta’s scientific imaging system, show dwarf planet Pluto shortly before the flyby of NASA's New Horizons.

Preparing for perihelion
July 14, 2015
Rosetta’s investigations of its comet are continuing as the mission teams count down the last month to perihelion – the closest point to the Sun along the comet’s orbit – when the comet’s activity is expected to be at its highest.

CometWatch 25 June 2015
July 13, 2015
Today’s CometWatch entry presents an image taken on 25 June from a distance of 168 km from the comet centre. The image scale is 14.3 m/pixel and the image measures 14.6 km across. The image has been processed to highlight the details of the comet’s activity.

New communication with Philae – commands executed successfully
July 13, 2015
This report is provided by the German Aerospace Center, DLR. The Philae lander communicated with the Rosetta orbiter again between 19:45 and 20:07 CEST on 9 July 2015 and transmitted measurement data from the COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission (CONSERT) instrument.

CometWatch 24 June
July 10, 2015
Today's CometWatch entry was taken on 24 June, when Rosetta was 183 km from the comet Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This single frame NAVCAM image has a resolution of 15.6 m/pixel and it measures 16.0 km across.

CometWatch 23 June
July 10, 2015
Today's CometWatch entry shows a view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on 23 June, when Rosetta was 197 km from the comet centre. This single frame NAVCAM image has a resolution of 16.8 m/pixel and it measures 17.2 km across.

Comet sinkholes generate jets
July 02, 2015
A number of the dust jets emerging from Rosetta’s comet can be traced back to active pits that were likely formed by a sudden collapse of the surface. These ‘sinkholes’ are providing a glimpse at the chaotic and diverse interior of the comet.

CometWatch 21 June
July 02, 2015
Today's CometWatch entry is a single frame NAVCAM image taken on 21 June, when Rosetta was 177 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The resolution is 15.1 m/pixel and the image measures 15.4 km across.

Exposed water ice detected on comet’s surface
June 29, 2015
This article is mirrored from the main ESA web portal and covers the results published in a new paper in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics titled "OSIRIS observations of metre-size exposures of H2O ice at the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and interpretation using laboratory experiments," by Antoine Pommerol et al.

CometWatch 15 June
June 24, 2015
Today's CometWatch entry is a single frame NAVCAM image taken on 15 June, when Rosetta was 207 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The resolution is 17.7 m/pixel and the image measures 18.1 km across.

CometWatch 14 June
June 22, 2015
Today's CometWatch entry is a single frame NAVCAM image 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.

Rosetta and Philae in contact again
June 22, 2015
ESA and its Rosetta mission partners have confirmed that another communication link has been made between Rosetta and Philae today.