A very nice scale image of Comet Churymov-Gerasimenko, that spacecraft Rosetta has been exploring lately.
Image from Michel, AKA @quark1972 on Twitter.
Rosetta is sending back detailed pictures of the comet’s unusual nucleus from which a smooth landing site will be selected.
The spacecraft is scheduled to release Philae toward the dark mountain-sized comet nucleus with an anticipated landing date in November.
Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team; MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Philae is a robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanies the Rosetta spacecraft.It is designed to land on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November 2014. The lander will achieve the first controlled touchdown on a comet nucleus. The lander’s instruments will obtain the first images from a comet’s surface and make the first in situ analysis to find out what it is made of. The lander is named after Philae Island in the Nile, where an obelisk was found that was used along with the Rosetta Stone to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.
via io9
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