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10 New Rosetta Images Reveal Comet 67P In All Its Glory

Posted by Soulskill on from the hooray-science dept.

sciencehabit writes: The first scientific results from Rosetta at comet 67P have been published, and they detail a surprising diversity of features on the 4-kilometer-long duck-shaped comet. The discoveries include images from Rosetta's main science camera, OSIRIS, which reveal 67P to be a far more varied place than anyone expected. The article summarizes a trove of scientific papers that were published today about comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The best part? They're all freely available.

17 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. duck or... by CresCoJeff · · Score: 1

    ...porygon? It's too angular to be a good duck; I vote porygon.

    1. Re:duck or... by Livius · · Score: 3, Funny

      And is it lighter or heavier than a duck? It might be a witch.

    2. Re:duck or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The current comet shape model suggests that the mass is 1013 kg (about 100 million times the mass of the international space station), with a bulk density of ~470 kg/m3 (similar to cork, wood, or aerogel). The low mass and density values strongly constrain the composition and internal structure of the nucleus, implying a relatively fluffy nature, with a porosity of 70 to 80% (Sierks et al., this issue). The nucleus surface itself appears rich in organic materials, with little sign of water ice (Capaccioni et al., this issue).

      http://www.sciencemag.org/content/347/6220/387.short

    3. Re:duck or... by daremonai · · Score: 4, Informative
      That's 10^13 kg, of course.

      So, it's heavier than a duck - in fact, since ducks average only a little over a kilogram, and the worldwide population of ducks is likely only on the order of a billion or so, it's heavier than all the ducks in the world put together.

      On the other hand, its density implies it would float.

      Hmm, I'd recommend burning it, just to be on the safe side. Perhaps the Sun can see to that.

    4. Re:duck or... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

      - He's headed for that small porygon!
      - That's no porygon. It's a duck.
      - It's too angular to be a duck.
      - I have a bad feeling about this...

      --
      systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
    5. Re:duck or... by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying it was an alien stone duck......... but it was an alien stone duck!

    6. Re:duck or... by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      yet I see only four out of dozens that would be a truly piss poor choice for a raft

  2. life force by bumba2014 · · Score: 1

    any one thinking about the movie life force (1985), when they started landing on meteorites...?

    1. Re:life force by camperdave · · Score: 1

      no as I was of that age where I would have been too distracted by the 'nakid boobies' I don't actually remember the plot.

      You say that as if there is an age when you're no longer distracted by 'nakid boobies'.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  3. I Wish by rotorbudd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I remember watching Alan Shepard's launch on a black and white TV in elementary school, and 50 years later we're getting hd pictures back from the surface of a comet.
    Sure would like to live another 50 just to see what the hell is coming down the line for us.

    --
    A bullet may have your name on it, but artillery is addressed to " Whom It May concern"
    1. Re:I Wish by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      All you need to do is to be rich and gullible.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  4. Publicly funded.... by aaron4801 · · Score: 2

    ....but most of the images are locked up for six months.

    1. Re:Publicly funded.... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Half a year seems like a sensible policy to me. It's not like there will be another encounter with another comet this year. The worst thing that could happen is that an outsider can't hint at something interesting that would warrant closer inspection by the probe as long as it is active - something the scientists involved would miss - but the chances of that seem minuscule (a lot of research is most certainly pre-planned, and the science teams have eyes of their own).

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    2. Re:Publicly funded.... by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      but most of the images are locked up for six months.

      Seems a fair trade to me, given the scientists involved has spent anywhere from years to decades working on this project and aren't exactly getting rich in the process.
       
       

      Maybe, but the approach is looking increasingly anachronistic. That's partly because of a new kind of real-time public engagement with science thanks to the Internet; but it's also to do with changes in the way raw scientific data is made available.

      Um, no. The public avidly following the flavor-of-the-month in science isn't particularly new, with the internet and social media it's just become much more visible. (I can remember when three different popular magazines had Voyager's pictures of Jupiter on their cover in the same month.) Nor are there any notable changes in the way raw scientific data is becoming available - the Sentinel system is far and away the exception to the rule.

    3. Re:Publicly funded.... by wooferhound · · Score: 1

      Images fresh out of the camera
      http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/

      --
      We are Dead Stars looking back Up at the Sky
  5. Philae by camperdave · · Score: 1

    Did they re-establish contact with the lander, yet?

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  6. Re:You gullible people by Hussman32 · · Score: 1

    Yeah, reading the day after, I gotta agree.

    --
    "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."