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Rosetta is homing in on Earth

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla

2009/11/10 11:38 CST

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Heads up! ESA's Rosetta spacecraft is approaching for its last flyby of Earth, on Friday, November 13. It is now close enough that its OSIRIS high-resolution camera can resolve the Moon (and presumably Earth as well). Here's that photo of the Moon, a lovely crescent view captured on Sunday from 4.3 million kilometers away:

ESA / OSIRIS team

Rosetta approaches the Moon, November 8, 2009

As Rosetta approached the Earth-Moon system for its third and final gravity-assist flyby in November 2009, it captured this view of a distant, crescent Moon. The Moon was 4.3 million kilometers away at the time.

It's a bit small at this range, so here's a zoomed view:

ESA / OSIRIS team

Rosetta approaches the Moon, November 8, 2009

This version has been enlarged by a factor of two.