Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Earth sights Rosetta for the last time

Earth sights Rosetta for the last time
Earth sights Rosetta for the last time Although Rosetta will be "visible" at radio wavelengths as long as it's an active mission, the Earth flyby of November 13, 2009 will be the last time that we'll be able to see it in optical wavelengths. ESA's Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain tracked Rosetta as the satellite approached Earth. This animation is composed of 18 images, each with a 15-second exposure time, separated by 69 seconds, spanning from 03:05 to 03:25. The field is located in the constellation of Cetus and has a size of 10 by 10 arcminutes. The telescope was tracking Rosetta so that the spacecraft appears as a dot in the center of the image while the stars appear as streaks. ESA