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Rosetta Swing-By A Success
Paris, France (ESA) Nov 14, 2007 An important milestone has just been accomplished as Rosetta successfully swung by Earth at 21:57 CET. The spacecraft will now be catapulted towards the outer Solar System with its newly-gained energy before coming back to Earth for another boost. As mission operators waited for the fully automated manoeuvre to be carried out, Rosetta flew directly above 63 46' south and 74 35' west, at 21:57 CET (above the Pacific ocean, south-west of Chile). Rosetta whizzed past 5295 km overhead, at a velocity of 45 000 km/h (12.5 km/s). Europe's comet chaser has now flown a little over 3 thousand million km of its 7.1 thousand-million-km journey on its way to its destination comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This was the third planetary swing-by for Rosetta and its second swing-by of Earth.
Science close to Earth Scientists are now eagerly awaiting some of the first data to become available during the course of the night. Rosetta will be back in our neighbourhood, and will swing by Earth for the last time in November 2009. But before that, as it crosses the asteroid belt, Rosetta will grab the opportunity to study asteroid Steins during a fly-by in September 2008. Tune in early tomorrow morning: we will be publishing pictures and results as soon as they become available, throughout the day on 14 November. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links ESA's comet chaser: Rosetta Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology
Catch A Comet - No Telescope Required
Pasadena CA (SPX) Nov 01, 2007Usually comets are challenging little no-see-um fuzzballs. To see one often requires a dark sky, a good chart or a telescope that can "go-to" the object automatically. This week there is a newly visible comet in the sky and it can be seen with the unaided eye! Last week, Periodic comet Holmes (17P/Holmes), a very faint comet far from the sun experienced an outburst and brightened a million times in just a few hours. The comet puffed up (it's still expanding), changed color and wowed viewers around the world. |
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