CometWatch 14 March

Today’s CometWatch entry was taken by Rosetta's Navigation Camera (NAVCAM) on 14 March at a distance of 85.7 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This single frame NAVCAM image has been processed in Lightroom to bring out the comet's activity and then slightly cropped. The scale is 7.3 m/pixel and the image measures 6.4 × 6.3 km. The original picture (uncropped) is provided at the end of the post and measures 7.5 km across. In this orientation, the comet's small lobe is up and the large lobe down. On the comet's neck, the Anuket region can be seen on the right, while Hathor on the left is shielded from visibility due to a combination of shadows cast by the small lobe and of the nebulosity arising from activity near the neck region. The comet's glowing 'atmosphere' is particularly pronounced around the small lobe and neck. Some of the regions on the surface of Comet 67P/C-G are indicated in this annotated image (the approximate boundaries are marked on the regional maps here and here). On the small lobe, the flat and smooth plain of the Serqet region, punctuated by a few boulders, is visible on the right, just above the sharp boundary that separates this region from Anuket on the neck. Two neighbours of Serqet are also visible: the smaller region, Nut, and some portions of Ma'at. Separating the small and large lobe, some parts of the smooth, dust-covered Hapi are visible. On the large lobe, the circular features of Seth catch the eye in the central part, while the smoother plains on the sides belong to Ash (lower left) and Anubis (right). The original 1024 x 1024 pixel frame is provided below (click on the image for full resolution):



from Rosetta - ESA's comet chaser » Rosetta - ESA's comet chaser http://ift.tt/1O6xzth

via IFTTT