REAL LIFE NEWS: ROSETTA RENDEZVOUS
by Hazed
Ten years ago, the Rosetta spacecraft was launched from Earth and sent on a journey to rendezvous with a comet. This week, it finally reached its destination: the comet called 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
Currently about 405 million kilometres from Earth, the comet is about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, and is heading towards the sun at a speed of almost 55,000 km per hour. Rosetta has now matched its speed and trajectory to the comet so it’s travelling along with it, and is sending back images and data to the European Space Agency mission control. Pictures show the comet is an irregular shape, something like a rubber duck – see the link below.
Currently, Rosetta is about 100 km from the surface of the comet. Over the next six weeks it will adjust its trajectory to edge closer still, coming as close as 50 km away. Later it will attempt a near-circular orbit of the comet at 30 km – and perhaps even closer.
In mid-November it will release a probe called Philae which will land on the comet – a truly exciting event which will give us even more information. Learning about comets is important because they are considered to be pieces left over from the formation of the Solar System, so examining the comet’s make-up will reveal secrets about the origin of the system and of our planet.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2014/aug/06/rosetta-comet-67-churyumov-gerasimenko-european-space-agency
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta
Close-up picture of the comet: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140807.html
