Astronomy Picture of the Day
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Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2014 May 23
Rosetta's Target Comet
Credit:
ESA / Rosetta / MPS
OSIRIS Team
Explanation:
The Rosetta spacecraft captured
this remarkable series
of 9 frames
between March 27 and May 4, as it closed from 5 million to
2 million kilometers of its target comet.
Cruising along a 6.5 year orbit toward closest approach
to the Sun next year, periodic comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
is seen moving past a distant background of
stars in Ophiuchus and globular star cluster M107.
The comet's
developing coma
is actually visible by the end of the sequence, extending
for some 1300 km into space.
Rosetta is scheduled for an early August rendezvous with
the comet's nucleus.
Now clearly active,
the nucleus
is about 4 kilometers in diameter,
releasing the dusty coma as its dirty ices begin to
sublimate in the sunlight.
The Rosetta lander's
contact with the surface of the nucleus is anticipated in November.
Meteor Shower Hunt Tonight:
Looking for the
Camelopardalids
Tomorrow's picture: colorful sky arc
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(
MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (
UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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