Rosetta Blog | Tips for sky junkies III: finder charts

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

All times are in UTC.

The approach from 12 Nov 00:00 UTC to a few minutes after Earth closest approach.

Rosetta approach finder chart hi-res TIFF, click here to download
Rosetta approach finder chart hi-res GIF, click here to download