Final descent of Rosetta cometary probe. View of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the Rosetta space probe on 30 September 2016,during the descent towards a controlled impact of the probe with the comet at the end of its 2-year mission. This comet (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) is around 3.5 by 4 kilometres. The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft was launched in March 2004. It entered orbit around the comet on 6 August 2014 and over the next 25 months it acquired 100,000 images and instrument readings,as well as launching a lander (Philae). The probe and comet were 573 million kilometres from the Sun,with the probe's solar power fading. The last images from the probe just before it impacted the comet's surface were received at around 11:18 UTC on 30 September 2016. This image (of an area around 3.2 kilometres across) was obtained by the OSIRIS wide-angle camera at 02:17 UTC on 30 September 2016 at a distance of 15.5 kilometres | |
Licence : | Droits gérés |
Crédit: | Science Photo Library / IDA / DASP / UPM / INTA / SSO / IAA / LAM / UPD / MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / Rosetta / EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY |
Taille de l’image : | 2049 px × 2049 px |
Model Release : | Non requis |
Property Release : | Non requis |
Restrictions : |
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