ESA's Rosetta mission has revealed that its target comet, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has its own far-ultraviolet aurora. This is the first time such electromagnetic emissions in the far-ultraviolet have been detected on a celestial object, aside from any…
Scientists analyzing data acquired by ESA's comet chaser Rosetta while orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko have discovered organic molecules regarded as crucial for the origin of life on Earth. The ingredients include the amino acid glycine (C2H5NO2),…
Researchers led by Andre Bieler from the University of Michigan have found a large amount of molecular oxygen (O2) is being released by the Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Pure molecular oxygen is extremely rare in the universe and this discovery has…
Several months after the arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/C-G) in August 2014, the Rosetta spacecraft has finally managed to observe and characterize comet's southern polar regions. The only instrument that was able to study this dark region of…
On July 29, 2015, Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera captured images showing a dramatic outburst at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, registered by several of its instruments from their vantage point 186 km (115 miles) from the comet.As forecasted, the comet reaches
With comet 67P’s closest approach to the Sun less than one week away, ESA’s unmanned spacecraft Rosetta celebrated one year at the comet on August 6, 2015.After a 10-year chase spanning more than 6.4 billion km (4 billion miles) across the Solar System, the
The Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Perhaps the strangest solar system object ever observed up close in the course of the space age. It was the target of the Rosetta probe, whose 10-year journey began in March 2004, under the sponsorship of the European Space Agency.Th
Rosetta's lander Philae has completed its primary science mission after nearly 57 hours on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, ESA proudly announced today. With its batteries now depleted and without enough sunlight available to recharge, Philae has fallen into
In a media briefing held at ESOC today, ESA confirmed "Philae" lander is alive and operational after three touchdowns on Comet 67/P, located some 511 million kilometers away from Earth. First analysis of the touchdown data suggests that the lander bounced twic
ESA Operations have just confirmed – Rosetta's lander named "Philae" successfully landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on November 12, 2014. The touch down happened about 15:34 UTC, while the confirmation signal, as expected, arrived shortly aft
