ESA Rosetta, news, updates and discussion Options

[Hungry4info]

I knew those craters had to be related, and not just a trick of shadows.

[Phil Stooke]

I'm not convinced. Remember the great north-south chain of large craters down the central meridian of our moon? Invoked as evidence of internal processes, now ignored. But for the record, check out the other image in that story - it has a similar chain running left to right across it.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Coming back to the line of craters again - I've already said that I think the craters appear to have different ages - some more subdued than others. Another reason I'm not convinced by this interpretation (drainage of regolith into a fracture, as suggested for Phobos) is that the scale is wrong. A little world, a little crater, I'd expect to see a little crack (if any) and really tiny pits. In fact I think such pits, if they did form on Steins, would be too small to be resolved in Rosetta images. This is like the Valles Marineris of Steins. I believe this is just a random set of craters that appear to be in line in this view, but if you look at the full image sequence you can make out other apparent lines as well, including one that re-uses some of these craters when relief distortions change the apparent alignment.

Phil

[dvandorn]

Alignments are not just apparent. When you change the angle at which you view the body, you change the faces on that body that are in the way of a stream of impactors. If you rotate Steins to a variety of angles, you can line up any number of craters into potential chains.

I think one or two of those craters look suspiciously like sinkholes, and there could well be internal faulting that is causing some of the observed cratering. However, the small but significant size differences, the weathering and appearance differences, and especially the depth differences in the craters in this little chain tell me that at least some of them are impact craters made by somewhat different types of impacts (bigger and smaller impactors, differences in relative velocity, etc.).

When you look closely at the Real World, observed phenomenon are usually the results of blends of causes, not of nice, tidy, neat, this-explains-it-all processes. If two different processes are possible, rest assured that, to one degree or another, the results of both of those processes will be observed.

-the other Doug

[cndwrld]

The Rosetta blog is back, baby. Gearing up for next month's Earth fly-by.

The Blog is at logically named:

http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/5

The updates will probably be slow for the next couple weeks. The most recent post:
On Friday, 13 November, 2009, at 07:46 UT, ESA's Rosetta satellite will make her third (and final) swing-by of Earth, picking up a gravity assist from our bulky home planet and altering trajectory as she enters the next stages of the 10-year journey to Comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The ESA Flight Dynamics team have predicted Rosetta's altitude at the point of closest approach (perigee height) on 13 November to be 2481 km, slightly higher than her first swing-by in March 2005 (1954 km) and lower than her second swing-by on 13 November 2007 (5295 km). We'll update this figure as we get closer to the swing-by date itself...

The geographical point of closest approach (the point on the Earth's surface over which she'll make closest approach) is 109°E and 8°S - just off the coast of the Indonesian island of Java.

[dmuller]

Thanks for the reminder ... need to update the trajectory in my simulations a little!

EDIT: done

[Paolo]

8 November Moon image is up

[Paolo]

Some interesting observations are planned for the flyby
http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/in...fobjectid=45865
Note in particular the 24-hour "movie" of the approaching Earth (please ESA don't mess up and release it!) and the attempt to detect water on the surface of the Moon.

[ugordan]

Note in particular the 24-hour "movie" of the approaching Earth

Doesn't say how many frames will actually be captured, but... YES!!!11eleven

[elakdawalla]

Let's just hope they flip it the right way 'round before releasing it this time

[ugordan]

I'll settle with them releasing it. One can always flip it afterwards.

[djellison]

Osiris is a STUNNING instrument - 2kx2k CCD - can't wait to see what they come up with.

I just wish they'd release the data from previous flybys etc.

[Paolo]

I just wish they'd release the data from previous flybys etc.

Yes, there have been nothing more about Steins since last year. And nothing has been published in the literature yet

[Stu]

Absolutely beautiful view of Earth... http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMXJY3VU1G_index_0.html

[nprev]

Whoa! That's a stunner of a pic, all right. We do have a nice little piece of real estate with curb appeal, don't we?