Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




IRON AND ICE
Sunset Jets on Rosetta's Comet
by Staff Writers
Munich, Germany (SPX) Jun 16, 2015


This image of Rosetta's comet taken on 25 April, 2015 from a distance of approximately 93 kilometers shows clearly distinguishable jets of dust after nightfall. Image courtesy ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA.

When night falls on Rosetta's comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the bizarrely shaped body remains active. This can be seen in new images of the Ma'at region located on the comet's "head" captured by OSIRIS, the scientific imaging system on board the Rosetta spacecraft.

They were taken approximately half an hour after the Sun had set over the region and show clearly distinguishable jets of dust escaping into space. Researchers from the OSIRIS team believe that the increasing heating-up of the comet is responsible for the newly observed phenomenon.

"Only recently have we begun to observe dust jets persisting even after sunset", says OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany.

In the past months, the comet's activity originated from illuminated areas on the day side. As soon as the Sun set, these jets subsided and did not re-awake until after the next sunrise. An exception poses an image from 12 March, 2015 showing the onset of a dust jet on the brink of dawn.

According to OSIRIS scientists, the jets now occurring even after sunset are another sign of the comet's increasing activity. "Currently, 67P is rapidly approaching perihelion in mid-August", says Sierks.

At the time the image was taken, comet and Sun were only 270 million kilometers apart. "The solar irradiation is getting more and more intense, the illuminated surface warmer and warmer", Sierks adds.

First analyses suggest that the comet can store this heat for some time beneath its surface. "While the dust covering the comet's surface cools rapidly after sunset, deeper layers remain warm for a longer period of time," says OSIRIS scientist Xian Shi from the MPS, who examines the sunset jets. In these layers Rosetta scientists suspect the supply of frozen gases, which fuels the comet's activity.

Older comet missions, too, like Stardust to comet 81P/Wild 2 and Deep Impact comet 9P/Tempel 1 had found evidence of jets sustained on the night side. "But only the high-resolution images of OSIRIS now allow us to study this phenomenon in detail," says Sierks.

Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI. Rosetta is the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the Sun, and deploy a lander to its surface.

The scientific imaging system OSIRIS was built by a consortium led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (Germany) in collaboration with CISAS, University of Padova (Italy), the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (France), the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, CSIC (Spain), the Scientific Support Office of the European Space Agency (The Netherlands), the Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial (Spain), the Universidad Politechnica de Madrid (Spain), the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Uppsala University (Sweden), and the Institute of Computer and Network Engineering of the TU Braunschweig (Germany). OSIRIS was financially supported by the national funding agencies of Germany (DLR), France (CNES), Italy (ASI), Spain (MEC), and Sweden (SNSB) and the ESA Technical Directorate.


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


.


Related Links
Archive of OSIRIS Images
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








IRON AND ICE
Lander makes fresh contact from comet surface: agency
Paris (AFP) June 15, 2015
Europe's robot lab Philae has called home once more, a day after sending its first message in seven months in its trek towards the Sun on the back of a comet, mission officals said Monday. The lander re-established contact at 2122 GMT Sunday, nearly a day after a solar battery recharge roused it from hibernation, they said. "We had another contact overnight. It wasn't very long, about fi ... read more


IRON AND ICE
Crashing comets may explain mysterious lunar swirls

Google Lunar X-Prize meets Yoda

China, Russia plan joint landing on the Moon

NASA's LRO Moves Closer to the Lunar Surface

IRON AND ICE
NASA Signs Agreements to Advance Agency's Journey to Mars

New study favors cold, icy early Mars

Scientists find methane in Mars meteorites

Red Planet Rising

IRON AND ICE
How to sail through space on sunbeams - solar satellite leads the way

Robotic Tunneler May Explore Icy Moons

XCOR Selects Matrix Composites to Develop Lynx Chines

Spacecraft glitch shifts orbiting ISS: Russia

IRON AND ICE
Electric thruster propels China's interstellar ambitions

China Plans First Ever Landing On The Lunar Far Side

China ranked 4th among world space powers

3D printer making Chinese space suit parts

IRON AND ICE
Russian, US Scientists to Cooperate in Space Exploration Despite Sanctions

'Hard landing' as three astronauts return to Earth from ISS

ISS Adjusts Orbit to Evade Space Junk

Space station back on track after mystery Soyuz glitch

IRON AND ICE
Sentinel-2A satellite ready for Launch from Kourou

Arianespace restructure signals major changes in company governance

SpaceX achieves pad abort milestone approval for Commercial Crew

NASA issues RFP for New Class of Launch Services

IRON AND ICE
Helium-Shrouded Planets May Be Common in Our Galaxy

Hubble detects stratosphere-like layer around exoplanet

Work-experience schoolboy discovers a new planet

Hubble in 'Oh Planet, What Art Thou?' 25th Anniversary Video

IRON AND ICE
Researchers develop ultra-tough fiber that imitates the structure of spider silk

Turning paper industry waste into chemicals

Radar system approved for allies

First US deep space weather satellite reaches final orbit




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.