Thursday, March 27, 2014 10:02:20 PM
Rosetta -- the story so far
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ROSETTA SETS SIGHTS ON DESTINATION COMET
Rosetta’s first sighting of its target in 2014 – narrow angle view
27 March 2014
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has caught a first glimpse of its destination comet since waking up from deep-space hibernation on 20 January.
These two ‘first light’ images were taken on 20 and 21 March by the OSIRIS wide-angle camera and narrow-angle camera, as part of six weeks of activities dedicated to preparing the spacecraft’s science instruments for close-up study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
OSIRIS, the Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System, developed under the leadership of the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung in Göttingen, Germany, has two cameras for imaging the comet. One covers a wide angle, while the narrow-angle camera covers a smaller field at higher resolution.
Rosetta’s first sighting of its target in 2014 – wide angle view
OSIRIS is one of a suite of 11 science instruments on the Rosetta orbiter that together will provide details on the comet’s surface geology, its gravity, mass, shape and internal structure, its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere and its plasma environment.
Rosetta has been travelling through the Solar System for 10 years, and will finally arrive at the comet in August this year. It first imaged the comet .. http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2011/06/Remarkable_images_Rosetta_s_first_view_of_Comet_67-P_March_2011 .. in a long exposure of over 13 hours from a distance of 163 million kilometres, three years ago, before entering deep-space hibernation.
Rosetta is currently around 5 million kilometres from the comet, and at this distance it is still too far away to resolve – its light is seen in less than a pixel and required a series of 60–300 second exposures taken with the wide-angle and narrow-angle camera. The data then travelled 37 minutes through space to reach Earth, with the download taking about an hour per image.
“Finally seeing our target after a 10 year journey through space is an incredible feeling,” says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. “These first images taken from such a huge distance show us that OSIRIS is ready for the upcoming adventure.”
“This is a great start to our instrument commissioning period and we are looking forward to having all 11 instruments plus lander Philae back online and ready for arriving at the comet in just a few month’s time,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist.
VIDEO: When can we see the comet?
more .. http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_sets_sights_on_destination_comet
the post this replies to is linked 2nd bottom here
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=99608901
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ROSETTA SETS SIGHTS ON DESTINATION COMET
Rosetta’s first sighting of its target in 2014 – narrow angle view
27 March 2014
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has caught a first glimpse of its destination comet since waking up from deep-space hibernation on 20 January.
These two ‘first light’ images were taken on 20 and 21 March by the OSIRIS wide-angle camera and narrow-angle camera, as part of six weeks of activities dedicated to preparing the spacecraft’s science instruments for close-up study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
OSIRIS, the Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System, developed under the leadership of the Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung in Göttingen, Germany, has two cameras for imaging the comet. One covers a wide angle, while the narrow-angle camera covers a smaller field at higher resolution.
Rosetta’s first sighting of its target in 2014 – wide angle view
OSIRIS is one of a suite of 11 science instruments on the Rosetta orbiter that together will provide details on the comet’s surface geology, its gravity, mass, shape and internal structure, its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere and its plasma environment.
Rosetta has been travelling through the Solar System for 10 years, and will finally arrive at the comet in August this year. It first imaged the comet .. http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2011/06/Remarkable_images_Rosetta_s_first_view_of_Comet_67-P_March_2011 .. in a long exposure of over 13 hours from a distance of 163 million kilometres, three years ago, before entering deep-space hibernation.
Rosetta is currently around 5 million kilometres from the comet, and at this distance it is still too far away to resolve – its light is seen in less than a pixel and required a series of 60–300 second exposures taken with the wide-angle and narrow-angle camera. The data then travelled 37 minutes through space to reach Earth, with the download taking about an hour per image.
“Finally seeing our target after a 10 year journey through space is an incredible feeling,” says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. “These first images taken from such a huge distance show us that OSIRIS is ready for the upcoming adventure.”
“This is a great start to our instrument commissioning period and we are looking forward to having all 11 instruments plus lander Philae back online and ready for arriving at the comet in just a few month’s time,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist.
VIDEO: When can we see the comet?
more .. http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_sets_sights_on_destination_comet
the post this replies to is linked 2nd bottom here
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=99608901
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