November 13, 2009 14:56 by scibuff
The lights of North American cities taken by Rosetta OSIRIS Imaging System's Narrow-Angle Camera at 04:44 GMT - Source: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
After yesterday’s marvelous crescent of the Earth from 633,000 km, the Rosetta spacecraft delivered another beauty today. At 04:44 GMT, just about 3 hours before its closest approach to Earth, the Narrow-Angle Camera of the OSIRIS Imagining System took a 10-second exposure of Northen American cities at night (click here for a high-resolution version).
November 12, 2009 17:27 by scibuff
Image of the Earth acquired with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera from a distance of 633 000 km on 12 November 2009 at 12:28 GMT - Source: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
The spectacular image above (large version available here) was taken from the distance of 633,000 km by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera aboard the Rosetta spacecraft as it is heading towards the Earth for the third and final gravity assist. The slingshot maneuver will place Rosetta on the fly-by trajectory to the asteroid 21 Lutetia (in March 2010) and ultimately to a rendezvous with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014. In November 2014, after months of comet mapping and characterization, a lander will be released from the height of about 1km to attempt a first every landing on a nucleus of a comet.
