Rosetta's circuitous path through the solar system. Gridlines are astronomical units (average Earth distance from the Sun). The green circle is Earth's orbit ("Erde," in German); blue, Mars; red, comet Churymov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta's eventual target, whose elliptical orbit it must match in order to be able to rendezvous with and land on it in 2014. The dotted gray line is Rosetta's path. Only small portions of the orbits of the two asteroids that Rosetta flew past (Steins and Lutetia) are shown in orange and yellow.

ESA / DLR