Incredible New Gif Shows Cosmic 'Snow' On the Surface of a Comet (gizmodo.com)

Press2ToContinue shares a report from Gizmodo: What you're looking at is the surface of the comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is orbited by the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe. The photo comes from Rosetta's OSIRIS, or Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System. The raw data was collected on June 1, 2016, and posted publicly on March 22 of this year. Twitter user landru79 processed the gif from this data release and shared it yesterday. In the foreground is the comet's surface (still several kilometers away from the probe), and three kinds of specks. The stars in the background belong to the constellation Canis Major, according to ESA senior advisor Mark McCaughrean. Some of the foreground stuff could be streaks from high-energy particles striking the cameraâ"it's a charge-coupled device (CCD), so even invisible particles can leave streaks in the results. And some could be dust from the comet itself.

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Comet? This misses the real story

[DNS-and-BIND]

Well, the last time we had an earth-shaking announcement about a comet, the story wasn't the comet. This article buries the lede and doesn't address the real story here: what kind of shirt was the spokesman wearing when he made the announcement? Because we know, from direct empirical observation, that that information is more important than humanity literally landing on a comet.

The spokesman's description of the difficulty of the Rosetta mission? "She's sexy, but I never said she was easy." The reaction was immediate:

This is a photo of Matt Taylor. He was watched by millions as he landed his robot on a comet, while wearing an exploitative sexualized shirt.

His shirt says to girls watching from their elementary classrooms: Science is not for you. You shouldnâ(TM)t be an engineer sending robots into space.

His shirt says to women in STEM: I have no respect for you as a professional. When I look at you, I see a sex object, and not a colleague.

"His shirt says to women in STEM: I have no respect for you as a professional. When I look at you, I see a sex object."The Bad Astronomy blog said: If you think this is just a bunch of prudes, you're wrong. It's not about the prurience. It's about the atmosphere of denigration.

Speaking for the highly respected The Atlantic, journalist Rose Eveleth brilliantly captured what that shirt represents in a community that continues to struggle, if not outright fail, to respect women: No no women are toooootally welcome in our community, just ask the dude in this shirt.

The spokesman broke down in tears the next day and apologized. He said, "I made a big mistake and I offended many people and I am very sorry about this."

If you can force a rocket scientist, celebrating the accomplishment of a lifetime, to cry and grovel and beg forgiveness on international TV for wearing a shirt, you are not unempowered.