the first images of the comet approaching OSIRIS!!!
Surface impressions of Rosetta’s comet
OSIRIS images of Rosetta’s comet resolve structures at 100 meters pixel scale.
In new images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by Rosetta’s onboard scientific imaging system OSIRIS, surface structures are becoming visible. The resolution of these images is now 100 meters per pixel. One of the most striking features is currently found in the comet’s neck region. This part of 67P seems to be brighter than the rest of the nucleus.
Figure 1: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko imaged on July 20th, 2014 from a distance of approximately 5500 kilometers. The three images were taken 2 hours apart.
Figure 2: Images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on July 14th, 2014 by the OSIRIS imaging system aboard ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft have allowed to calculate this three-dimensional shape model of the nucleus. The full rotation of the nucleus around its spin axis shown here emphasizes the bi-lobate structure already observed with the camera.