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Rosetta Takes Stunning Self-Portrait 10 Miles From Comet's Surface

Posted by Soulskill on from the pretty-pictures dept.

astroengine writes: At a distance of only 10 miles from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's surface, the European Rosetta mission has captured yet another dazzling self portrait with the dark comet lurking in the background. But the orbiter couldn't have snapped this picture without the help of a little friend — the attached Philae lander that is currently undergoing preparations for its historic comet surface landing in November.

34 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Let's see if the EU predictions are correct. by trout007 · · Score: 4, Informative

    https://www.thunderbolts.info/...

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
    1. Re:Let's see if the EU predictions are correct. by r1348 · · Score: 1

      Hopefully better than the EU's economic predictions...

    2. Re:Let's see if the EU predictions are correct. by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

      https://www.thunderbolts.info/...

      We are just as likely to find a tribe of bigfoot living on it. And no, I'm not kidding. There would have to be as much wrong with modern sience for the Electric Universe to be correct, that Vacuum loving Sasquatches would be equally as likely.

    3. Re:Let's see if the EU predictions are correct. by davester666 · · Score: 1

      Article correction: it did NOT take a picture of itself/a selfie. The lander took a picture of it's transporter, with the asteroid photobombing the picture.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. That's called a Selfie by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Get with the times, old fart.

    1. Re:That's called a Selfie by oodaloop · · Score: 4, Funny

      I prefer "Lawn Clearance Technician".

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
  3. Typical Rosetta by slazzy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Typical... yet more showing off from self-absorbed Rosetta and her selfies. I bet she posts them right to her Facebook account too.

    --
    Website Just Down For Me? Find out
    1. Re:Typical Rosetta by Chocolate+Teapot · · Score: 3, Funny

      At least it didn't pull a duck face.

      --
      Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise. - William Shakespeare
    2. Re:Typical Rosetta by Andrio · · Score: 1

      Even our most advanced space robots aren't immune to taking selfies.

      --
      The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity.
    3. Re:Typical Rosetta by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      Rosetta has no clothes on. Scandalous.

  4. Miles? by Grizzley9 · · Score: 2, Funny

    "At a distance of only 10 miles from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's surface, the European Rosetta mission..."

    An EU mission using miles as a distance calculation...we've seen this movie before unfortunately.

    1. Re:Miles? by Punko · · Score: 5, Informative

      Its miles only in the summary; the article is in SI units. Apparently, someone believes that folks on Slashdot either don't know what a kilometer is or are incapable of converting them to another unit of measurement.

      --
      If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
    2. Re:Miles? by MildlyTangy · · Score: 1

      Its miles only in the summary; the article is in SI units. Apparently, someone believes that folks on Slashdot either don't know what a kilometer is or are incapable of converting them to another unit of measurement.

      I think its mainly because everybody thinks only Muricans read Slashdot. Hence all the US centric articles and odd measurement units.

    3. Re:Miles? by MildlyTangy · · Score: 2

      Personally, I would have gone with 176 football fields.

      Which sort of Football? Soccer? Rugby? American football? AFL?

    4. Re:Miles? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      I have very strong feeling about it. I could, and have, write a 4000 word essay breaking down exactly why we should be metric, showiunf examples of harm from not being metric, as well as the long term impact of how other countries perceive us.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    5. Re:Miles? by CODiNE · · Score: 2

      That's easy!

      A kilometer is 1000MB
      A kibimeter is 1024MB
      (Assuming a bitrate of 256mb/sec)

      --
      Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
    6. Re:Miles? by Punko · · Score: 1

      Except for Canadian Football. But then you'd not want to use our field, its bigger

      --
      If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
    7. Re:Miles? by sconeu · · Score: 1

      Sounds like *SOMEONE* in Canada is trying to... overcompensate...

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    8. Re:Miles? by Livius · · Score: 1

      I think you mean a kilometre.

    9. Re:Miles? by MoaDweeb · · Score: 1

      Rugby Union sets it as 100m * 70m http://www.nzrugby.co.nz/the_g...

      --
      New Zealanders are well balanced with a chip on each shoulder. One represents Australia, the other the rest of the world
    10. Re:Miles? by steelfood · · Score: 1

      They took the picture 16km out, which conveniently converts nicely to an even 10 miles. It's like they wanted Americans to convert.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    11. Re:Miles? by weilawei · · Score: 1

      Yep. Both systems work just fine. Conversions aren't hard. I also enjoy the FFF system of units (furlong/firkin/fortnight).

  5. Good! by spiritplumber · · Score: 1

    If the public catches wind of a new space race that the US is losing, then NASA will get more money! Excellent!

    --
    Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
  6. Re:What is this supposed to achieve? by mmell · · Score: 2

    Well, it costs a lot of time, effort and money to get anything to or from our moon, and even more to get anything to any of the planetary bodies in our solar system. If we want to exploit space, we might wan to consider exploiting those resources which are nearest to us. Comets and asteroids fill the bill there, so we might want to start by learning if there is anything worth exploiting there.

  7. Historic? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

    A tiny bit presumptuous, no?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:Historic? by exploder · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I agree that the word "historic" is probably overapplied, but come on, it's going to land on a fucking comet for the first time in, uh, what's that word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, history.

      --
      Yo dawg, I heard you like the Ackermann function, so OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
    2. Re:Historic? by geekoid · · Score: 1

      "famous or important in history, or potentially so."
      So yes, historic.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    3. Re:Historic? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      It still relates to past (the definition of history) events, which may have the potential to become historic. Some events become historic immediately after they happen, and some a long time afterwards, but not before.

      Like you say there: important in *history*

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    4. Re:Historic? by MozeeToby · · Score: 1

      Historic
      Adj.
      1) famous or important in history, or potentially so.

      If you're going to be pedantic, you need to at least be accurate.

    5. Re:Historic? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      famous or important in history

      History - a study of past events. An event has the potential of being historic after it happens.

      Read the rest of the thread. I don't feel like repeating myself.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  8. Re:PHOTOSHOPPED! by Punko · · Score: 1

    And, for Christ's sake, that's not a self-portrait any more than me taking a picture of my arm is a self-portrait.


    You mean a bad self-portrait ??

    --
    If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
  9. Re:PHOTOSHOPPED! by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 1

    Of course it is. It's two exposures (one short and one long) combined into one frame to accurately show the detail on both the spacecraft and the asteroid.

  10. Re:PHOTOSHOPPED! by Last_Available_Usern · · Score: 1

    Comet, sorry.

  11. Not quite complete by SlowMovingTarget · · Score: 1

    Needs a banana for scale.