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Stories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.

Comet behind a curtain

An active comet, from a distance

Rosetta has closed to within 50 kilometers of Churyumov-Gerasimenko, on its way to a very close, 6-kilometer flyby of the comet tomorrow. To prepare for the flyby, Rosetta traveled much farther away, allowing it to snap these amazing photos of an increasingly active comet from a great distance.

Comet-light on the cliffs of Hathor

Rosetta shifts from sedate circular orbits to swooping flybys

For the period of time before and after the Philae landing, Rosetta was able to orbit the comet close enough that it was in gravitationally bound orbits, circling the comet's center of gravity. As the comet's activity increases, the spacecraft has to spend most of its time farther away, performing occasional close flybys. The first of these is at 6 kilometers, on February 14.

Hapi and Hathor

At last! A slew of OSIRIS images shows fascinating landscapes on Rosetta's comet

The first results of the Rosetta mission are out in Science magazine. The publication of these papers means that the OSIRIS camera team has finally released a large quantity of closeup images of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, taken in August and September of last year. I explain most of them, with help from my notes from December's American Geophysical Union meeting.

OSIRIS sees Philae multiple times during landing

Rosetta imaged Philae during its descent -- and after its bounce

This morning ESA released a set of images of the Philae lander taken by the Rosetta orbiter during -- and after -- the lander's first touchdown. The images contain evidence for the spot Philae first touched the comet, and a crucial photo of Philae's position several minutes into its first long bounce.

Philae touchdown (artist's concept)

Now Philae down to sleep

My last post on the drama in Darmstadt, where ground controllers believe Philae may have fell asleep for good.

Philae's first ÇIVA panorama from the surface of Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Brief Philae "Morning After" update: First ÇIVA panorama from the surface

I'm just getting up to speed on the news from overnight, which is mostly good: Philae remained in contact with the orbiter (which means the CONSERT radar sounding experiment was working), and it's sitting stably on the surface, although it's not anchored in any way. And they released the first ÇIVA image from the ground!

Philae falling

Philae status, a day later

The Philae team scrambled all morning to comprehend the initially confusing status of the lander, and the picture is much clearer today. Speaking of which, there are lots more pictures!

ESA Rosetta and Philae team at European Space Operations Centre, Nov. 10, 2014

Report from Darmstadt: Philae status and early Rosetta results from DPS

I'm reporting live from the press room at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. There's little news on Philae yet except that its status is good. Meanwhile, Rosetta scientists presented their first early comet results at the Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Tucson, Arizona, which I watched from afar using Twitter.

Philae touchdown (artist's concept)

Philae landing preview: What to expect on landing day

Earth's first-ever landing on a comet is a week away. On November 12 at 8:35 UT, Philae will separate from Rosetta. Seven hours later, it will arrive at the surface of the comet. Hopefully, Philae will survive the landing, and begin to return data.

Rosetta NAVCAM mosaic of Comet 67P

Rosetta NAVCAM's Shades of Grey

What do “light” and “dark” mean for an object like Comet 67P/C-G? Here are some details on how Rosetta's NAVCAM images are taken and displayed to make a wide range of surface features possible.

Comet jets from close range, October 18, 2014

A feast of comet features from Rosetta at Churyumov-Gerasimenko

I have been horribly behind in posting images from Rosetta's exploration of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and that's a shame, because the spacecraft has lately been exploring the comet from a range of only 10 kilometers. From that range, the NavCam gets sub-meter resolution, and we're seeing a menagerie of odd surface features

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