Astronomy Picture of the Day
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2014 July 21
Spacecraft Rosetta Shows Comet has Two Components
Image Credit:
ESA/Rosetta/MPS
for OSIRIS Team;
MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Explanation:
Why does this comet's nucleus have two components?
The
surprising discovery that
Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has a double nucleus came
late last week as
ESA's robotic interplanetary spacecraft
Rosetta continued
its approach toward the ancient comet's core.
Speculative ideas on how the double core was created include, currently, that
Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko is actually the result of the merger of two comets, that
the comet is a
loose pile of rubble pulled apart by
tidal forces,
that ice evaporation on the comet has been asymmetric,
or that the comet has undergone some sort of explosive event.
Pictured above,
the comet's unusual 5-km sized comet nucleus is seen rotating over the
course of a few hours, with each frame taken 20-minutes apart.
Better images -- and hopefully more refined theories -- are expected as
Rosetta
is on track to enter orbit around
Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko's nucleus early next month,
and by the end of the year, if possible,
land a probe on it.
Tomorrow's picture: view from a cave
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(
MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (
UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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