COBS News archive

Rosetta tracks debris around comet
June 19, 2015
This blog post is based on the papers “Orbital elements of material surrounding comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,” by B. Davidsson et al, and “Search for satellites near comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko using Rosetta/OSIRIS images,” by I. Bertini et al, which are both accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

MIRO maps water in comet’s coma
June 19, 2015
In a paper accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, the MIRO team present their first map of water vapour in the coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

CometWatch 7 June
June 18, 2015
While the Rosetta and Philae teams are busy planning the next activities for the spacecraft and lander, CometWatch continues with a new view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko captured on 7 June 2015, several days before Philae's wake-up call was received. This single frame NAVCAM image, taken at a distance of 203 km from the comet, has a resolution of 17.3 m/pixel and measures 17.8 km across.

Preparing Rosetta to listen for lander
June 16, 2015
At the time of writing, the Rosetta orbiter has received no new signals from the Philae lander on the surface of Comet 67P/C-G since the last, very brief, signal receipt on the evening of 14 June.

Philae wake-up triggers intense planning
June 16, 2015
The receipt of signals from Rosetta’s Philae lander on 13 June after 211 days of hibernation marked the start of intense activity. In coordination with its mission partners, ESA teams are working to juggle Rosetta’s flight plan to help with renewed lander science investigations.

How we heard from Philae
June 16, 2015
Saturday, 13 June 2015 22:28 CEST on board Rosetta: The orbiter's Electrical Support System Processor Unit (ESS) starts receiving radio signals from Philae, approximately 200km beneath Rosetta on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Rosetta’s lander Philae wakes up from hibernation
June 15, 2015
Rosetta's lander Philae is out of hibernation!

CometWatch from Earth – 22 May
June 15, 2015
Astronomers using ESO’s ground-based Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile are watching the development of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s coma and tail from Earth. This image is based on data acquired on 22 May and is about 300 000 km wide at the distance of the comet.

CometWatch 5 June
June 15, 2015
Today’s CometWatch entry was taken on 5 June 2015, from a distance of 208 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 17.7 m/pixel and the image measures 18.1 km across.

CometWatch 1 June
June 11, 2015
Today’s CometWatch entry was taken on 1 June 2015, from a distance of 209 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The image scale is 17.8 m/pixel and the image measures 18.2 km across.

Sunset jets
June 09, 2015
Activity on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko continues to rise, with new images from OSIRIS showing that some regions remain active even after nightfall. This report is provided by the OSIRIS team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany.

CometWatch 23 May
June 08, 2015
Today's CometWatch entry was taken on 23 May, when Rosetta was 138.1 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The single frame NAVCAM image has resolution of 11.8 m/pixel and measures 12.1 km across.

CometWatch 21 May
June 08, 2015
This impressive view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was captured on 21 May from a distance of 156.8 km from the comet centre. It is a single frame image with a resolution of 13.4 m/pixel, and measures 13.7 km across. The intensities and contrast have been adjusted to emphasise the activity of the comet.

Crashing comets may explain mysterious lunar swirls
June 03, 2015
Brown University researchers have produced new evidence that lunar swirls -- wispy bright regions scattered on the Moon's surface -- were created by several comet collisions over the last 100 million years.

How comets were assembled
June 03, 2015
Rosetta's target 'Chury' and other comets observed by space missions show common evidence of layered structures and bi-lobed shapes. With 3D computer simulations Martin Jutzi, astrophysicist at the University of Bern, was able to reconstruct the formation of these features as a result of gentle collisions and mergers.

Ultraviolet study reveals surprises in comet coma
June 03, 2015
Rosetta’s continued close study of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has revealed an unexpected process at work, causing the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the comet’s surface.

CometWatch 20 May
June 03, 2015
This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta's NAVCAM on 20 May at a distance of 163.6 km from the comet centre. It is a single frame image with a resolution of 13.9 m/pixel, and measures 14.3 km across. The intensities and contrast have been adjusted to emphasise the activity of the comet.

NAVCAM image bonanza: close orbits and comet landing
June 03, 2015
Today perhaps the most anticipated set of NAVCAM images of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko have been released by the Rosetta Downlink & Archive Team via the Archive Image Browser and ESA’s Planetary Sciences Archive.

CometWatch closeup: Looming over Aten
May 25, 2015
With today's CometWatch we take another trip back in time, to 27 October 2014 when Rosetta was in a bound orbit around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At the time this single frame NAVCAM image was taken, the spacecraft was only 9.8 km from the comet centre. Due to the viewing geometry, most of the scene is in fact closer to the camera in this view. The image scale is about 75 cm/pixel, and the image spans 770 m across.

Comet Wild 2: A window into the birth of the solar system?
May 20, 2015
Scientists have investigated the oxygen isotope and mineral composition of the comet dust returned from Wild 2. The team discovered an unexpected combination of material that has deepened the mystery of Wild 2's past.