On 8 November, Rosetta's OSIRIS instrument imaged the Moon from 4.3 million km as the satellite sped towards Earth for her final gravity-assist swingby, scheduled for 13 November 2009.

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.The OSIRIS team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Lindau, Germany, has just sent us this image of the Moon, acquired on Sunday, 8 November at 4:10 CET.

Rosetta was at a distance of 4.3 million kilometres when the image was taken, flying in towards Earth from the night side. Sure, this is a rather small glimpse - but it's the first visual proof that she's on her way home!

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Access image in Rosetta Blog media gallery here

Access image in highest resolution here

Access second version acquired by OSIRIS WAC (wide-angle camera) here 

-- Amruta & Daniel