Though time will be short, several science observations are planned around the swingby to exploit Rosetta's unique perspective and powerful instrument suite. 

The planned observations include imaging with the scientific camera system OSIRIS, an attempt to look for water on the Moon with MIRO, study of the magnetosphere with the suite of Rosetta plasma instruments, and observations of Earth's atmosphere and a search for aurorae.

The instruments will be turned on one-by one starting today and will stay on through the swingby.

The goal of the swingby is to assist Rosetta to ultimately reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for its prime mission. This means that spacecraft operations will have priority over science activities on 13 November. 

An artist's impression of the OSIRIS imaging system. (ESA/AOES Medialab)

During the two nights before closest approach (13 November) and one night afterwards, members of the Rosetta team will conduct observations from ESA's Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain. They will also carry out an experiment to investigate whether a laser beam can be detected by OSIRIS.

More info on the instruments here:

ESA website
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEM1AF374OD_0.html

Max Planck Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Lindau (OSIRIS principal investigator)
http://www.mps.mpg.de/en/projekte/rosetta/osiris/

See some OSIRIS images taken during past swingbys/flybys in our media galleries:

Rosetta Blog gallery

ESA multimedia gallery

-- Amruta

After a request posted in our blog from Detlef Koschny, an ESA colleague and a keen amateur star watcher, Kristin Wirth from the Rosetta science team has just sent us three finder charts, corresponding to inbound approach, point of closest approach and outbound recession. ((Thank you, Kristin!!)) These will help you know where to look for Rosetta in the sky.

Please note, however, that - even with these finder charts - actually spotting Rosetta will still be a challenge and is probably something that a more experienced amateur may wish to attempt. Note that our finder charts are relatively large scale and may be too crude to give exact help. Also, our finder charts are based on an observer's location on Tenerife; those elsewhere in Europe will find them less helpful.

Kristin wrote:

In earlier blog postings (here and here) we already explained that Rosetta will be difficult to observe because of the weak brightness and low position on the sky. These finder charts are meant to give an overview - the two charts for approach and recession illustrate the path of Rosetta against the sky background (the magnification is so low that the observer's position is irrelevant). The chart for the night 12/13 Nov might be sufficient to find Rosetta because of its movement relative to the stars. It tells any keen astronomer where to look for it - of course, it you have an image where Rosetta still is a dot (and not a line) and you want to identify it among the stars, charts with a higher magnification and for your precise location will be needed.

Those with a bit more experience can generate custom Rosetta ephemerides (position) information on 13 November via NASA's Horizons website:

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons.cgi

Click on 'Full story' to access hi-res versions of the charts. -- Amruta

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I got a note this morning from Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Engineer Sylvain Lodiot, who in turn received an email from a teenage friend of his from France, Baptiste. Sylvain wrote:

I received an email from a friend of mine (he is teenage and really keen on all ESA stuff). He says that he followed the blog live for the trajectory correction manoeuvre held on 22 October from school! Baptiste wishes us all the best for the manoeuvre today (which has been cancelled) - and the instrument switch ON starting on 6 November.

Thanks, Baptiste, for following Rosetta's progress - and please standby tomorrow for a more detailed listing of which instruments will be switched on and their planned targets (Merci, Baptiste, pour suivre les progrès de Rosetta - et s'il vous plaît attendre jusqu'à demain pour une liste plus détaillée des instruments qui seront allumés et leurs objectifs prévus). -- Daniel

After the 86-second thruster burn on 22 October, Rosetta has lined up on a near-perfect Earth approach trajectory. Flight dynamics and mission control experts at ESOC, ESA's European Space Operations Centre, have determined that today's manoeuvre slot will not be used (click on 'Full story' for details). -- Daniel

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We just confirmed this morning that ESA's European Space Operations Centre will host a press briefing on the morning of the swingby for interested media. This will be the third Earth swingby, the last of Rosetta’s four planetary gravity assists. Closest approach to Earth is expected at 08:45 CET (07:45 UT).

The spacecraft is operated from ESOC, located in Darmstadt, Germany (right where we are!). Click on 'full story' for contact details.

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To continue where we left off on Friday, for stargazers who'd like to glimpse Rosetta from ground as she closes in...

No. 1 factor? Visibility conditions, obviously, which will depend on the location of the observer. During approach Rosetta will be in the sky's Southern hemisphere. If we consider observers in Europe, it helps to be in the South (which is why Kristin gets to go to Tenerife!).

For observers on the Canary Islands:

12/13 November:
18:30 UTC: Rosetta rises, range is 460 000 km.
23:30 UTC: Max. elevation of 42º reached, range is 280 000 km.
04:20 UTC: Rosetta sets, range is 120 000 km.

For observers in Berlin:

12/13 November:
17:40 UTC = 18:40 CET: Rosetta rises.
21:30 UTC = 22:30 CET: Maximum elevation of 18º reached.
01:30 UTC = 02:30 CET: Rosetta sets.

Berlin is considerably worse than Tenerife, especially the low elevation. For an observer in Central Europe, Rosetta will be visible in the first part of the night, low in the South.

Rosetta’s movement on the sky will be slow before 13 November 05:00 UTC, so the visibility times and elevations are similar for the night before. But for the night of 11/12 November, the range is roughly 1 million km, i.e. considerably larger than during the following night.

The weak magnitude (17 - 12 mag expected) and low elevation imply that at least a medium size telescope is needed (sorry guys!). Kristin suggests an 80 mm aperture, but 300 mm or more would be preferable.

You can obtain coordinates for your own location via the Horizons website.

 --Amruta