Rosetta Blog

Rosetta Blog http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/5 Coverage of the Rosetta mission as she makes a series of complex gravity assist manoeuvres around Earth (Mar 2005, Nov 2007, Nov 2009) and Mars (Feb 2007), plus the exciting encounters with Asteroids Steins (Sep 2008) and Lutetia (Jul 2010). News and updates from the Rosetta Dedicated Control Room at ESOC, ESA's European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany. administrator 2012-02-10T11:52:53Z How does Lutetia compare to the other asteroids and comets visited by spacecraft? http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/1249 <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002585/" target="_blank"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/thumb.png" align="left" /></a>The <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002585/" target="_blank">Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla</a> has posted an excellent, updated "Comets and Asteroids" poster showing, to scale, all such bodies visited by spacecraft so far. The latest addition is, of course, 21 Lutetia! She's done an excellent job of correlating images sizes and scales. Access her <a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00002585/" target="_blank">full post and the full-size image here</a>. -- Daniel           General Science Optical observation 2010-07-16T10:29:27Z danielscuka First pre-flyby images now available! http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/1246 First pre-flyby images now available! Largest view of Lutetia shows asteroid at a distance of 80,000 km. Better yet to come!! All images: CREDIT: (C) ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA  <a id="res_18756" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/Lutetia_approach.gif"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/previews-med/Lutetia_approach.gif" border="0" /></a>  <a id="res_18757" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/Lutetia_frames.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/previews-med/Lutetia_frames.gif" border="0" /></a>  <a id="res_18758" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/NAC_80kkm_F82.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/previews-med/NAC_80kkm_F82.gif" border="0" /></a>  <a id="res_18759" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/NAC_F82_80k_km.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/previews-med/NAC_F82_80k_km.gif" border="0" /></a>     General Science Operations Optical observation 2010-07-10T18:02:32Z danielscuka Less than 330,000 km! http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/1238 Richard Moissl on the OSIRIS team just wrote: "We are closing in at a steady pace (less than 330,000km distance to the asteroid now) and the narrow angle camera is starting to resolve surface structures." -- Daniel Science Operations Optical observation 2010-07-10T12:22:35Z danielscuka OSIRIS imaging team hard at work http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/1237 This just in from Richard Moissl, working on the OSIRIS team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research here in Germany. Richard writes: "Since 6:18 UTC (08:18 CEST), Osiris has been imaging the approach with both cameras, the narrow angle camera (NAC) and the wide angle camera (WAC), collecting images with 10-minute intervals." The OSIRIS team will keep us updated (and we'll pass along info right here in the blog) - and we are looking forward to seeing the results of their work later today! A quick reminder: one of the unavoidable limitations to publishing images will be download slots. -- Daniel   General Science Optical observation 2010-07-10T11:10:10Z danielscuka Rosetta’s blind date with asteroid Lutetia http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/1190 Like many first dates, Rosetta will meet Lutetia on a Saturday night, flying to within 3200 km of the space rock. Rosetta started taking navigational sightings of Lutetia at the end of May so that ground controllers can determine any course corrections required to achieve their intended flyby distance. The close pass will allow around 2 hours of good imaging. The spacecraft will instantly begin beaming the data back to Earth and the first pictures will be released later that evening. Full article in <a href="http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM9VRQVEAG_index_0.html" target="_blank">ESA web portal here</a>. General Optical observation 2010-06-16T09:18:36Z danielscuka Rosetta receding http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/910 Kristin wrote to us early on Saturday morning, 14 November. During the night of 13/14 November, the team at ESA's Optical Ground Station, Tenerife, imaged Rosetta receding from Earth. The spacecraft's brightness was very low as they were looking at the non-illuminated side of the solar arrays; in contrast, during approach, sunlight was reflected from the solar arrays toward us (this explains the long exposure time and bad image quality compared with the approach observations done on 11/12 and 12/13 November). <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/ROS_2009Nov14_0451_120s_180s_5arcmin.gif" alt="Movie recorded between 04:51 and 05:20 UTC on 14 Nov. It consists of 10 images with an exposure time of 2 min and a separation of 3 min. The field is located in Leo and has a size of 5 x 5 arcmin, North is up and East is left. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe while the stars appear as dots. Rosetta moves roughly from East to West. The bright star at the bottom of the image has magnitude 12.5, and the bright star at the top has magnitude 13.4." /> This movie was recorded between 04:51 and 05:20 UTC on 14 Nov. It consists of 10 images with an exposure time of  2 min and a separation of 3 min. The field is located in Leo and has a size of 5 x 5 arcmin; North is up and East is left. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe while the stars appear as dots. Rosetta moves roughly from East to West. The bright star at the bottom of the image has magnitude 12.5, and the bright star at the top has magnitude 13.4. <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/ROS_2009Nov14_0539_300s_5arcmin.bmp" alt="Image taken at 05:39 UTC on 14 Nov with an exposure time of 5 min. The field is located in Leo and has a size of 5 x 5 arcmin, North is up and East is left. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe a little above right centre of the image. The spacecraft moves less than 1 arcmin during the 5 min exposure, roughly from East to West. The brightest star at the bottom of the image has magnitude 12.6. Note that the vertical bright line that crosses Rosetta is a camera artefact." /> This image was taken at 05:39 UTC on 14 Nov with an exposure time of 5 min. The field is located in Leo and has a size of 5 x 5 arcmin, North is up and East is left. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe a little above centre-right of the image. The spacecraft moves less than 1 arcmin during the 5 min exposure, roughly from East to West. The brightest star at the bottom of the image has magnitude 12.6. Note that the vertical bright line that crosses Rosetta is a camera artefact. Kristin Wirth wrote: <blockquote> "I will leave the Teide Observatory and Tenerife now, and head for the airport. I really enjoyed my time at the Optical Ground Station, together with a great team and at a special location - opposite the Teide mountain, with the clouds below us. I would like to thank everybody for their support, in particular Lilian Dominguez Palmero who operated the telescope for me." -- Kristin </blockquote> And we're going to take this opportunity to thank Kristin for all her great help and input for the Rosetta Blog over the past week! Finally, a 'farewell' (for now) from us both and a sincere 'thank you' to every one who visited the Rosetta Blog - it has been a lot of fun and we have especially enjoyed seeing the many comments left by visitors.  We plan to be back again in 2010 as Rosetta continues on her fascinating journey to the outer Solar System - including preparations for deep-space hibernation and the encounter with asteroid Lutetia on 10 July 2010 (from a distance of just 3000 km!). --Amruta & Daniel General Optical observation 2009-11-17T11:46:15Z amehta Rosetta darts across the sky: images taken last nght http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/894  <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/ROS_2009Nov13_0205_15s_69s_10arcmin.gif" /> We received several images and animations from Kristin this morning, of observations that she's been carrying out from ESA's Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain as the satellite approached Earth. The animation above comprises images recorded 13 November, 03:05 to 03:25. It comprises 18 images with an exposure time of 15 s and a separation of 69 s. The field is located in the constellation of Cetus and has a size of 10 x 10 arcmin. The telescope was tracking Rosetta so that the spacecraft appears as a dot in the centre of the image while the stars appear as stripes.    <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/ROS_2009Nov13_0259_120s_10arcmin.png" />   This image was captured at 03:59 CET, 13 November, with an exposure time of 2 minutes. The field is located in the constellation Cetus and spans 10 x 10 arcmin. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe in the centre of the image while the stars appear as dots. Rosetta moves 3 arcminutes during the 2-minute exposure. Compare the movement with the image above, taken at 22:58 CET. The brightest star in the top left corner of the image has a magnitude of 12. This is the last image taken before Rosetta's closest approach to Earth, immediately afterwards its elevation fell below 18 deg which is the limit of the telescope.   <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/ROS_2009Nov12_2158_120s_10arcmin.png" />   This still image was taken at 22:58 CET on 12 November. The total exposure time was 2 minutes. The field is located in the constellation of Cetus and has a size of 10 x 10 arcmin. Rosetta appears as a dot in the centre of the image while the stars appear as stripes. The stars move for almost 1 arcminute during the exposure. The brightest star in the bottom left corner of the images has a magnitude of 15.   Kristin's still there tonight as well, to see if Rosetta can be detected as it recedes. But the spacecraft will be much weaker in the sky than during the approach because an observer on ground will be looking at the unilluminated side of the solar arrays. Rosetta will have risen high enough for the telescope to point toward it at 04:30 CET. Its elevation will then increase; dawn starts shortly after 07:00 CET.     General Science Optical observation 2009-11-13T07:30:18Z amehta ESA to Rosetta: Green laser into the sky http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/882 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. <a id="res_9223" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/DSC02117_1024.jpg"> <div style="text-align: center"> <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/previews-med/DSC02117_1024.gif" border="0" alt="ESA Optical Ground Station (OGS), Tenerife, Spain. Researchers at work in the night of 11/12 November 2009 to conduct a laser pointing experiment with Rosetta's NAC (high-resolution narrow aperture camera) on the OSIRIS instrument." /> </div> </a> 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). <a id="res_9222" href="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/DSC02114_1024.jpg"><img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/previews-med/DSC02114_1024.gif" border="0" alt="ESA Optical Ground Station (OGS), Tenerife, Spain. Researchers at work in the night of 11/12 November 2009 to conduct a laser pointing experiment with Rosetta's NAC (high-resolution narrow aperture camera) on the OSIRIS instrument." align="left" /></a>The laser experiment is prepared and executed by: Zoran Sodnik of ESA / ESTEC, Thomas Schildknecht of Astronomisches Institut der Universitaet Bern (AIUB), Angel Alonso and Daniel Lopez Prieto of Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC).                                   General Optical observation 2009-11-12T16:15:01Z danielscuka Rosetta seen from ESA Optical Ground Station, Tenerife, Spain http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/881 <img src="http://webservices.esa.int/blog/gallery/5/ROSmovie_2009Nov12_0000.gif" alt="Rosetta seen 11/12 Nov 2009 from ESA';s Optical Ground Station (OGS), Tenerife. The movie 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 line. Credits: Jyri Kuusela, Lilian Dominguez Palmero - Ataman Science S.L." align="left" />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. (Click title of this post to leave comments) -- Daniel         General Optical observation 2009-11-12T07:22:43Z danielscuka Tonight's optical observations http://webservices.esa.int/blog/post/5/880 Just got a note from ESA's Kristin Wirth; she's just arrived at the <a href="http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=36520" target="_blank">Optical Ground Station (OGS)</a> at the La Teide Observatory, Tenerife. Observations are planned for tonight and we hope she and the colleagues there have success - weather permitting! More details on Thursday AM. -- Daniel General Optical observation 2009-11-11T20:48:10Z danielscuka