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.
Kristin - who has been very helpful with our blog - spoke to us an hour or so ago from Tenerife. She comments on the activities at ESA's Optical Ground Station, the observations last night and tonight and - of course - the weather (clear for tonight!) -- Daniel
Tonight and tomorrow night, through the inky blackness of the night sky over Tenerife, Spain, a green laser is beaming into space to see if Rosetta's instruments can pick up the pin-point of light.
Kristin was hard at work all night with the team at Tenerife, and she sent us this image of the laser in operation.
Image credit: ESA/K. Wirth
Kristin told us that they aimed the laser at Rosetta twice while the OSIRIS Imaging System's Narrow Angle Camera was taking images with Tenerife in the field of view, using a band pass filter suitable for seeing the green laser; the aim is to help calibrate the NAC. The experiment will be continued tonight as well (another image of the team at work after the jump).
When Europe's comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth tomorrow for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite's change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.
Since 1990, scientists and mission controllers at ESA and NASA have noticed that their spacecraft sometimes experience a strange variation in the amount of orbital energy they exchange with Earth during planetary swingbys. The unexplained variation is noticed as a tiny difference in speed gained or lost during the swingby when comparing that predicted by fundamental physics and that actually measured after the event.
This excellent animation was created by stitching together a series of images captured last night from ESA's OGS in Tenerife, and was sent to us by email at around 03:00 CET this morning by Kristin Wirth, working at the station.
The animation covers about 30 minutes and consists of images taken every 3 minutes, with an exposure time of 2 minutes. Rosetta moves roughly from East to West (North is up). The background stars are tracked, therefore Rosetta is seen as a short 'streak' line. Credits: Jyri Kuusela, Lilian Dominguez Palmero - Ataman Science S.L.
She's on her way! :-)
Kristin says the team will also observe tonight (Thursday) and we hope they have equally good luck! Thanks Kristin and all the folks at the OGS.
Home
When Europe's comet chaser Rosetta swings by Earth tomorrow for a critical gravity assist, tracking data will be collected to precisely measure the satellite's change in orbital energy. The results could help unravel a cosmic mystery that has stumped scientists for two decades.
This excellent animation was created by stitching together a series of images captured last night from ESA's OGS in Tenerife, and was sent to us by email at around 03:00 CET this morning by Kristin Wirth, working at the station.
