Rosetta - Early Orbital Operations at Comet 67P C-G, August 6, 2014 - November 13, 2014 Options

[Phil Stooke]

OK, how can I stay out of this? I see something more like this. Possibly a great-grandparent?

Phil

[Astro0]

NOTE TO SELF:
Post one more pareidolia image and then berate yourself as an admin for doing so.

I think Rosetta and Philae need to watch out for Mr Chompy here.


ADMIN NOTE: I think we can dispense with the pareidolia comparison images now.

[lunaitesrock]

It would appear that the neck is an "erosional" feature (not sure if erosion is the right word), and maybe not the contact boundary between 2 separate bodies. At some point in the future, the neck will sublime away and the comet will split in two.

Long time lurker here jumping into the discussion of this strange object.

I agree and have thought for several days now that 67P/C-G just didn't look right to be a contact binary. Looking at several of the recent highest resolution images, there are large-scale features in the 'neck' area which appear to be somewhat contiguous from the 'head' to the 'body'. These appear to exhibit similar types of features and textures as is seen in both lobes i.e. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuWJaVSIcAAVgZ9.jpg:large

I think a contact binary resulting from a low-speed impact of 2 bodies and subsequent gap infilling with loose material may not likely exhibit features like those seen... somewhat linear and contiguous higher density erosion resistant features and surfaces.

Jets of dust in the long exposure image seem to be emanating primarily from the neck area; likely from the higher albedo areas. If the neck resulted from increased ablation rates in this area of an assumed initial single somewhat spherical cometary body, quite a bit of material has been lost compared to the 2 lobes. On the other hand, 103P/Hartley and 19/P Borrelly, both of which had a bowling pin shape had jets emanating primarily from the lobes.

[lunaitesrock]

The 3D image is absolutely incredible! I hope that models are eventually made for educational purposes. Would be cool to have on a desk stand.
Even cooler would be a mobile of all spacecraft-visited comets.

http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&id=33441

[Decepticon]

What a strange object.

Reminds me of a broken Wasp Nest.

[djellison]

The 3D image is absolutely incredible! I hope that models are eventually made for educational purposes.

Once shape-file data is out there, I'll certainly make a 3D printable STL file that people can get printed at Shapeways or other 3D printing sites.

I've already done Eros, Itokawa and Vesta ( and others )

http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/search/ellison/model

[Phil Stooke]

"On the other hand, 103P/Hartley and 19/P Borrelly, both of which had a bowling pin shape had jets emanating primarily from the lobes. "

Not Borrelly. Its main jets were from the central smooth area.

http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/img/borrelly_3.jpg

Phil

[bobik]

Some are pointed at the ground, but others are horizontal, Huygens style.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1IFU6kxcD8

ÇIVA-P cameras are inclined downward. You could see the local horizon, but if they "land in one of those green spots closer to the neck of the comet" you would not be able to see "the other half of the comet looming overhead".

[MichaelJWP]

Once shape-file data is out there, I'll certainly make a 3D printable STL file that people can get printed at Shapeways or other 3D printing sites.

I've already done Eros, Itokawa and Vesta ( and others )

http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/search/ellison/model

They look good, Doug. Do you provide textures and are the models u-v'd or are they just for printing?

I should say I don't often have the time to post here, mostly lurking, but this mission is amazing, living up to all the promise and more. I remember sticking it in the calendar back at the launch date telling myself not to get hopes up too high as there were so many risks to overcome, but kudos to everyone involved in this one.

- Michael

[Explorer1]

ÇIVA-P cameras are inclined downward.

Yes, that's true. At best, it would just be a big cliff extending up beyond the edge of the frame.
But there will be that descent imaging, and I'm getting Huygens flashbacks...

[machi]

Descent imaging by ROLIS is limited by onboard memory. So plan is that ROLIS will take few pictures after release from the orbiter, those will be immediately transfered to the orbiter and
then erased. FOV size is easy to find, because if you know distance, you now FOV size on comet. From distance 1000 meters FOV diameter is 1000 meters and resolution is ~1 meter.
Before touchdown ROLIS will take up to 8 images from maximum distance 25-50 meters (FOV 25-50 meters). Only few last images will be better in terms of resolution than
best possible images from OSIRIS camera.
CIVA has 60° FOV. Its cameras has FOV tilted down by 15° (25° for stereo camera) from the Philae's baseplate ("horizontal" plane). So it can see ~270 meters high peaks in distance 1000 meters (this of course depends on actual tilt of the lander).
Source: Space Science Reviews 128.

[jgoldader]

Once shape-file data is out there, I'll certainly make a 3D printable STL file that people can get printed at Shapeways or other 3D printing sites.

I've already done Eros, Itokawa and Vesta ( and others )

http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/search/ellison/model

Any chance of Gaspra? I did some work on that back before the Galileo flyby; it would be great to print it out.

Thanks!
Jeff

[lunaitesrock]

New images are up:
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/08/07/co...tch-5-6-august/

[TheAnt]

The closeup is what got my attention.

[mmatessa]

How to figure out scale in these wonderful images?

ESA has the following graphic for the size of the whole comet:


But it would be nice to see reference stadiums, buildings, or cars for the closer images.