Rosetta Blog | November 2009

General , Press Releases 04 November, 2009 17:15

Follow the swingby as it happens

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.

Slideshow

First OSIRIS image acquired during Earth Swing-by No. 3 (2009).

The image shows the Moon as seen through the OSIRIS NAC (high-resolution narrow-angle camera) using the orange filter from a distance of 4.3 million kilometres at 8/11 03:10 UTC. Rosetta is flying towards the Earth coming in from the night side which is the reason for the very narrow illuminated crescent.

This is a composite of four images combined to show the illuminated crescent of Earth and the cities of the northern hemisphere. The images were acquired with the OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera (WAC) during Rosetta’s second Earth swing-by on 13 November.

This image showing islands of light created by human habitation was taken with the OSIRIS WAC at 19:45 CET, about 2 hours before the closest approach of the spacecraft to Earth. At the time, Rosetta was about 80 000 km above the Indian Ocean where the local time approached midnight (the angle between Sun, Earth and Rosetta was about 160°). The image was taken with a five-second exposure of the WAC with the red filter.

This image showing Earth’s illuminated crescent was taken with the WAC at 20:05 CET as Rosetta was about 75 000 km from Earth. The crescent seen is around Antarctica. The image is a colour composite combining images obtained at various wavelengths.

Credits: ESA ©2005 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/DASP/IDA

Image of the Earth acquired with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera from a distance of 633 000 km on 12 November 2009 at 13:28 CET. || The resolution is 12 km/pixel. || The image is a part of a sequence of images taken every hour through one full rotation (24 hours). The movie will be published later. || Three images with an orange, green, and blue filter were combined to create this one. The illuminated crescent is centered roughly around the South Pole (South at the bottom of the image). The outline of Antarctica is visible under the clouds that form the striking south-polar vortex. Pack ice in front of the coastline with its strong spectacular reflection is the cause for the very bright spots on the image.

Rosetta’s navigation camera (NAVCAM) took this shot of Earth right after Rosetta’s closest approach to our planet. The picture was taken at 22:56 CET on 13 November, as Rosetta’s second Earth swing-by concluded, while the spacecraft was flying at a height of about 6250 km from the surface.

Credits: ESA

This image was taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera (NAVCAM) right after Rosetta’s closest approach to Earth. The picture was taken at 21:55 CET on 13 November, as Rosetta’s second Earth swing-by concluded, while the spacecraft was flying at a height of about 5500 km from the surface.

Credits: ESA