Comet 67P Pictures, Size, Path: New Color Pics Released by European Space Agency

Comet 67P Pictures, Size, Path: New Color Pics Released by European Space Agency
In this file photo dated Thursday Nov. 13, 2014, a combination photo produced with different images taken with the CIVA camera system released by the European Space Agency ESA, shows Rosetta’s lander Philae after landing safely on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as these first CIVA images confirm. One of the lander’s three feet can be seen in the foreground. Philae became the first spacecraft to land on a comet when it touched down Wednesday on the comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. AP Photo/Esa/Rosetta/Philae, FILE
Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
|Updated:

The Rosetta probe has captured new color pictures of the Comet 67P, also known as the Churymov-Gerasimenko.

The comet came into focus when the Rosetta mission was launched. The mission is to follow the comet as it orbits the sun every 6.6 years under Jupiter’s gravity.

“When Rosetta arrives at the comet it will be at a distance of about three Astronomical Units (450 million km) from the Sun. As it moves towards the Sun, the ice in the nucleus begins to sublimate and the comet begins to eject increasing amounts of dust,” the European Space Agency explained in a blog post.

Numerous pictures have been published of the comet before, but not until now have any color images--and from so close--become available.

The human team on the ground monitoring Rosetta used three images taken of the comet one after another and superposed them through filters centered on red, green, and blue wavelengths.

The color image shows how the comet, which is about 2.4 miles (4 kilometers) in diameter, would be seen by the human eye.

“As anticipated, the comet turns out to be very grey indeed, with only slight, subtle color variations seen across its surface,” the agency said.

“Painstaking work is needed to superimpose the images accurately, which is one reason it has taken so long to come up with the first meaningful color image of 67P/C-G.”

The color image of the comet. (ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team)
The color image of the comet. ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team
Zachary Stieber
Zachary Stieber
Senior Reporter
Zachary Stieber is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times based in Maryland. He covers U.S. and world news. Contact Zachary at [email protected]
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