The ESA Rosetta Mission has been posting photos from the Rosetta mission from its rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. And here is an excerpt from the European Space Agency press release re: this historic moment. Thanks to Peter Conrad for the tip!
….After a decade-long journey chasing its target, ESA’s Rosetta has today become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, opening a new chapter in Solar System exploration.
Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and Rosetta now lie 405 million kilometres from Earth, about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, rushing towards the inner Solar System at nearly 55 000 kilometres per hour.
The comet is in an elliptical 6.5-year orbit that takes it from beyond Jupiter at its furthest point, to between the orbits of Mars and Earth at its closest to the Sun. Rosetta will accompany it for over a year as they swing around the Sun and back out towards Jupiter again.
Comets are considered to be primitive building blocks of the Solar System and may have helped to ‘seed’ Earth with water, perhaps even the ingredients for life. But many fundamental questions about these enigmatic objects remain, and through a comprehensive,in situstudy of the comet, Rosetta aims to unlock the secrets within.
The journey to the comet was not straightforward, however. Since its launch in 2004, Rosetta had to make three gravity-assist flybys of Earth and one of Mars to help it on course to its rendezvous with the comet. This complex course also allowed Rosetta to pass by asteroids Šteins and Lutetia, obtaining unprecedented views and scientific data on these two objects.
“After ten years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometres, we are delighted to announce finally ‘we are here’,” says Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General.
“Europe’s Rosetta is now the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet, a major highlight in exploring our origins. Discoveries can start.” …
#CometWatch 16 August – #67P from 93.5 km http://t.co/2mKrE7CaCP pic.twitter.com/ejR11mTRdQ
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) August 17, 2014
#CometWatch 15 August – #67P from 91 km http://t.co/IjRCFttbsr pic.twitter.com/4TH9zzyVFJ
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) August 16, 2014
Check this out: comet #67P in 3D! http://t.co/oqw4WD9fDI pic.twitter.com/IHxDkQY9QM
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) August 14, 2014