Some audio (28 mins) from ABC’s Star Stuff programme. Today’s issue: Rosetta, comets, a new Mars rover and ancient Earth being bombarded by meteorites.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/audio/2014/08/06/4061402.htm
Nice snap of the comet:
Bubblecar said:
Nice snap of the comet:
I haven’t got a lens good enough to do that with a grain of sand.
Another view:
Yeah, I was reading about the Rosetta rendesvous with comet 67P, the other day and landing a probe on the surface of the comet.
Pretty impressive stuff, the logistics and calculations involved….impressive stuff
They did a couple of gravitational slingshots using Earth to give the probe more velocity
ABC science had a neat video / graphic of the process.
Bubblecar said:
Nice snap of the comet:
“On August 3rd, the Rosetta spacecraft’s narrow angle camera captured this stunning image of the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After 10 years and 6.5 billion kilometers of travel along gravity assist trajectories looping through interplanetary space, Rosetta had approached to within 285 kilometers of its target. The curious double-lobed shape of the nucleus is revealed in amazing detail at an image resolution of 5.3 meters per pixel. About 4 kilometers across, the comet nucleus is presently just over 400 million kilometers from Earth, between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. Now the first spacecraft to achieve a delicate orbit around a comet, Rosetta will swing to within 50 kilometers and closer in the coming weeks, identifiying candidate sites for landing its probe Philae later this year.”
“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. 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.”
ESA press release
Rosetta_arrives_at_comet_destination
“After a decade-long journey chasing its target, ESA’s Rosetta has today become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, opening a new chapter in Solar System exploration. Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and Rosetta now lie 405 million kilometres from Earth, about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, rushing towards the inner Solar System at nearly 55 000 kilometres per hour. …”
Includes animation
A view of the comet’s limb from one of the previous snaps. At last, we’ll be exploring an outer space landscape that looks like it came out of Fireball XL5 or any number of old sci-fi sets & illustrations:
It looks kind of meringuey.
But yeah, amazing.
It’ll be very interesting to see where all the gas and dust will be venting out of. I just hope the camera lens doesn’t get all fogged up.
Bubblecar said:
It’ll be very interesting to see where all the gas and dust will be venting out of. I just hope the camera lens doesn’t get all fogged up.
Ain’t stuff grand. Nice little jobby by the Europeans.
If you turn the gain up… you can see some vapour coming off there.
Phil Plait presents a stunning collection of the best images taken by Rosetta on its journey so far, including a magnificent snap of Mars:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/08/07/rosetta_gallery_top_ten_photos_so_far.html
good
The 3D one is impressive.
jjjust moi said:
The 3D one is impressive.
I can’t see it in 3D ‘cos I can’t find my 3D specs. Have to get a new pair.
Bubblecar said:
jjjust moi said:
The 3D one is impressive.
I can’t see it in 3D ‘cos I can’t find my 3D specs. Have to get a new pair.
jjjust moi said:
Bubblecar said:
jjjust moi said:
The 3D one is impressive.
I can’t see it in 3D ‘cos I can’t find my 3D specs. Have to get a new pair.
$3 landed ex China, solid too.
Trouble is Chinese postage can take a long time. These look good and aren’t much more expensive:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2×-3D-Glasses-suits-PANASONIC-SONY-TOSHIBA-SHARP-SAMSUNG-LG-HISENSE-PHILIPS-/310807068067?pt=AU_3D_Glasses&hash=item485d8b7da3
> At last, we’ll be exploring an outer space landscape that looks like it came out of Fireball XL5 or any number of old sci-fi sets & illustrations
LOL. Yes.
> I can’t see it in 3D ‘cos I can’t find my 3D specs. Have to get a new pair.
Can see it in 3-D without glasses at https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta
Also it’s extremely enlightening to see the youtube on how to orbit a comet, they’re the weirdest triangular trajectories I’ve ever seen in my life. They have to be weird because the comet’s gravity field is extremely weak so an enormous effort has to be put into slowing down, lots of things could go wrong.
6 Aug – arrive.
17 Aug – start transfer.
24 Aug – First observations at 50 km.
3 Sep – transfer to global mapping phase.
10 Sep – Global mapping at 30 km.
29 Sep – Close observations at 20 km.
10 Oct – Close observations at 10 km.
Final orbit shortly after that.
By ‘arrive’ or ‘rendezvous’, how close are we talking?
Bubblecar said:
Phil Plait presents a stunning collection of the best images taken by Rosetta on its journey so far, including a magnificent snap of Mars:http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/08/07/rosetta_gallery_top_ten_photos_so_far.html
Some great pics there. My fave is the shot of Earth.