How comets are currently being studied. Modern research on comets - Comets: a general description. Historical facts, the beginning of the study of comets
Aristotle once explained the appearance of comets by the breathing of the Earth. According to him, earthly gases - “dry chaff” - rise to the upper layers of the atmosphere, where they ignite from “heavenly fire.” After which they fly across the sky, shining with a flaming tail. This idea of these celestial bodies lasted until the middle of the last millennium. Only in the 18th century, the English astronomer Edmond Halley noticed that in 1531, 1607 and 1682 comets flew along almost the same route. Then he suggested that it was not some kind of gas, but a celestial body flying in its orbit, and it should fly past the Earth again in 1758. The comet was just a little late and was spotted in 1759.
Return return missions are very complex and present significant technical challenges. The question is, how can it change its orbit and then fall into the sun? Bill: A dead comet won't hit the sun unless the gravity of a planet like Jupiter disrupts the orbit into the sun's path.
Waiting to board
Bill: The 1 km long object left a crater approximately 6 miles in diameter. Kaloyan: Do you have an explanation for the smooth region at the center of comet Harty 2? Bill: Some astronomers believe that the area appears smooth because it traps dust leaving the comet's surface, since it is an area of high gravity compared to other parts of the comet's surface.
Now it is customary to divide comets into two groups - short-period, with a period of revolution around the Sun of less than 200 years, and long-period. And if we can still say something definite about the first, then the second is a dark matter. It is believed that their place of “residence” is the Oort cloud, located at the very border of the Solar system. The distance from the Sun to its border can be 100 thousand times greater than the distance from the Sun to the Earth.
Bill: No, but they almost certainly are. Moosoman: What are the differences between meteors and asteroids? Bill: Asteroids are much larger, but there is no complex separation between them. Some people will say that an object 10 yards across is an asteroid, while others will call it a large meteor. Everon agrees that something like football field should be called an asteroid.
Bill: As far as I know, there is no such thing. Asteroids may be ice-poor, but they are all dusty. What does a more accurate equation consist of? Bill: Light from a point source falls as the inverse square of the distance. It's not an estimate - it's an equation. Why can't they be meteors? Bill: Comets can get their own shapes different ways, because more ice may evaporate from one part than another, which can cause depression. Some peanut-shaped comets may look like this because they are actually two comets that collided and stuck together.
Astronomer Edmond Halley.
Drawing illustrating the proposed appearance of the Oort cloud.
Seeder of the intelligent
It is these comets that come to us from the depths of deep space that from time to time “pamper” astronomers with strange and inexplicable antics. So, not all of them strictly follow the calculated trajectory. In 1926, astronomers observed a comet that randomly deviated from the path prescribed by gravity by as much as 24 degrees, which from the point of view of celestial mechanics is simply unthinkable. Many comets have orbits that seem to be specifically designed to fly around terrestrial planets. This was, for example, Comet Bennett, discovered in 1969. Passing very close to the Earth, it then visited Mars, after which it flew towards Venus and finally flew towards Jupiter.
General astronomy. Are comets sources of life?
You can think of many ways that comets can get unusual shapes. thanks for big questions! Bill: The tail is made of gas that was pushed out by gentle pressure from the sun. Sometimes comets have a second tail of dust. Bill: The current consensus is that an asteroid caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
What is a comet made of?
Frequency of color changes in different galaxies. For example, there are more red comets in the Milky Way than in other galaxies. I have yet to see a comet with significant red or blue color - they look gray in color. Bill: It varies from year to year, without a specific number.
Photo of Comet Bennett. 1969
Comet Lee, discovered at the very end of the last millennium and nicknamed Comet Nostradamus, had an unpredictable trajectory and an anomalous tail, directed, contrary to the laws of physics, not from the Sun, but towards it. According to all canons, it is believed that the tail of a comet is ionized gas “blown away” from it by the solar wind, and how it can not be directed towards the Sun is not entirely clear. The same anomalous tail has been observed in some other comets.
Does it look like earth dust? Bill: Yes, the dust is composed of minerals similar to those found here on Earth: olivine, etc. Bill: There were many more comets in the early days of the solar system just after it formed. However, the migration of the giant planets created what we called the "Late Heavy Bombardment" over 4 billion years ago, which sent most of these comets crashing into the surfaces of the planets and moons - which still show the scars of this event. The rest comets in solar system either collided with other bodies or the sun.
And ordinary comets also sometimes bring surprises. It happens that their brightness, for unknown reasons, increases overnight by tens of thousands of times, as happened in 1977 with the comet Tuttle-Giacobini-Cressack. Or the comet begins to blink unexpectedly (Comet Donati, blinking period - 4.6 hours). All these unresolved mysteries have led some astronomers to seriously declare that comets could well have been created artificially. As devices for seeding alien planets with life and for their periodic inspection. Considering that recent research has discovered very complex organic molecules and compounds in the cometary substance, reminiscent of the amino acids that make up our proteins, this assumption is not so fantastic.
But there are many comets left in the Oort Cloud, remaining 1 light year away. We don't look at photographs - there are infrared spectroscopes and ground-based observations with various instruments that can look at the material coming from the comet. Bill: All results will be published, as well as data analysis.
Bill: The International Space Station is good for many types of science, but telescopic observation is not one of them. Bill: No gold or silver, but a Mars meteorite will sell for a thousand dollars an ounce to a collector. This is not because of any precious metal, but because rocks from Mars are so rare.
Mission "VEGA"
Until the end of the last century, scientists were not able to see what the comet's nucleus looks like. The ionized coma, a kind of brightly glowing “atmosphere,” prevented him from seeing him. Only 32 years ago, the Soviet spacecraft Vega-1 and Vega-2 managed to approach the nucleus of Comet Halley and film it from a distance of less than 9,000 km. The Vega mission consisted of two parts, as indicated by its name (VEGA - Halley's Venus). First, the twin spacecraft entered Venus orbit and landed the descent modules. After which they headed for a rendezvous with the comet. The dates took place on March 6 and 9, 1986. The devices took about 1,500 photographs of the comet and transmitted its main parameters to Earth. Halley turned out to be not a ball, but rather a “cosmic shoe” 14 km long, 7.5 km wide, weighing 600 billion tons. It turned out that the “shoe” rotates around its “heel” and makes a full revolution in 54 hours. The temperature on the surface of the comet's nucleus reached 87°C. Every second it ejected 45 tons of gas and up to 8 tons of dust into space.
Musman: Is there any evidence of a dinosaur-killing meteor or is it a hypothesis? Bill: The world has a layer of iridium - an element commonly found in meteorites but rarely found on Earth - dating back to 65 million years ago. Geological surveys by oil companies have discovered a crater in Yucatan, also dated to 65 million years ago, and ejection layers containing shocked quartz have been discovered in North America and other places. So there is quite a lot of evidence to support a major impact 65 million years ago.
What is a comet made of?
Just as no two planets are alike, no two comets are alike. Even the same comet, once again flying past us, is very different from the celestial traveler it was on the previous orbit.
Bill: The asteroid belt is debris left over from the source of the solar system. Jupiter's gravity prevented the planet from forming in this area, so all we have are asteroid-sized chunks of rock. If you look at the materials coming from the comet, or look at the spectra of the reflected light, you can get an idea of what's on the surface.
Structure, composition of the comet
But how can you tell what its core is made of? By pressing this "copper brick" comet, we pulled material from beneath the surface that we could then analyze, spectroscopically and in other ways. If it is a Jupiter or Halley family comet, that means it was long enough to be significantly disturbed by Jupiter or one of the other planets along its original path.
Coma
The comet's peculiar atmosphere is a mixture of carbon dioxide, hydrogen, ammonia and methane. About a million kilometers long.
Rays
Occurs in “prowling comets”. Presumably they influence the flight trajectory, correcting it quite significantly. They are formed exclusively in the tail area.
Comet nucleus
Zachary Troxell: Why does it take scientists years to properly analyze data? What types of data are we talking about? Bill: The data we're talking about are images, spectroscopic measurements, etc. it takes years to analyze data because we want everything to be right, and two, many scientists are in universities where they have classes to teach, and three, sometimes it takes us a while to understand what's going on.
They take a lot of photos at the station. Not a good place for a telescope! Moosman: Are there any known metals on Mars other than iron? Bill: Almost the same as what you'll find here on Earth. Bill: Long-term comets seem to be more active, perhaps because they haven't circled the Sun many times.
It consists of a mixture of stones, dust and various types of ice - water, carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia.
Galos
An expanding shell of light. Appears quite rarely, presumably as a result of the explosion and release of the outer shell of the comet's nucleus.
Abnormal tail
Few comets have it. Directed strictly towards the Sun. The origin is unclear.
Comet orbit.
Bill: Probably depends on the severity of the fragmentation and the orbits of the fragments. Bill: We haven't discovered any comets outside the solar system. Bill: If you refer to Earth, they use cameras similar to what you will use. Not much astronomy done from the space station.
Musman: Have there been any records of comet impacts? Bill: No, there are no records that we have. Bill: Obviously yes, but no one is currently tracking any of our telescopes. Musman: What exactly happens to water that has no air and no resistance? Will it disappear when it gets closer to the sun?
Plasma tail
Consists of brightly glowing ionized atoms and molecules. It increases as the comet approaches the Sun and is always directed in the opposite direction from it.
Dust tail
Usually the brightest of comet tails and the most extended of the objects found in the Solar System, reaching a length of several tens of millions of kilometers.
Bill: The water sublimates into a gas, and the gas disperses into space. Will she move on to her next mission or will her glorious journey end? How long can it function? In fact, we can track large material approaching Earth well.
These missions highlight the importance of sending an unmanned spacecraft to study any potentially hazardous asteroid or comet first, as this data will help determine how we are going to prevent an impact. Michal: Why is the comet so active?
How to make a comet yourself?
In order to touch an average comet or take a close look at how it works, you don’t need to spend crazy millions and equip an expedition. It is enough to build it.
To produce a comet nucleus you will need:
Bill: Comets are only active in close proximity from the sun. Just a rough time scale, a few years, hundreds of years, etc. Bill: It depends on the comet. Halley's comet requires several hundred to several thousand orbits of the sun before its ices are exhausted.
Wouldn't this help in finding new meteorites to study? Musman: Is there a prediction when a comet will be observed without a telescope? Bill: No forecasts at this time. Thanks for all the great questions! Bill: No, but we brought pieces of the Hubble Space Telescope back to Earth and studied the debris left in the craters on the surface. Unfortunately, it appears that most of these holes were caused by man-made debris.
1.
Dry ice - 2 kg (can be purchased from ice cream sellers; be careful: dry ice has a temperature of -80C, and touching it with bare hands can cause burns);
2.
Water - 2 l;
3.
Ammonia - a few drops of ammonia or a few “sprays” from a window cleaning can;
4.
Sand - a handful;
5.
Starch or Worcestershire sauce - a few pinches or drops;
6.
Garbage bags - 2 pcs;
7.
Large cup or small saucepan;
8.
Rubber or leather gloves (preferably insulated);
9.
Towel;
10.
Paper napkins;
11.
Hammer;
12.
Spoon or spatula for stirring.
Bill: It's difficult to answer this question, since how to avoid a collision will depend on the nature and orbit of the object that will pose a threat to Earth. You can't come up with a "one size fits all" planetary defence. Are these photos and data being studied over the next few years or something else?
Bill: There is nothing planned at this time. The Russians are considering this. Can they take extra precautions to protect themselves. This is the “tank” of the earth’s orbit. Musman: Thank you for receiving this, Doctor. Do you have the ability to study or find "comets and such" in another galaxy close to ours? Bill: No, other galaxies are too far away.
Comet Making Guide
Step 1. Line the inside of the cup with a garbage bag, and place the second bag on the floor.
Step 2. Pour about half a liter of water into a cup, add starch or sauce, ammonia, a little sand, mix everything thoroughly.
Step 3. Wear gloves, wrap the dry ice in a towel, place it on the second bag and crush it.
Bill: We haven't seen any confirmed meteors, I'm sorry to say. Vani: Since we believed that living organisms could survive in a hydrothermal ventilator without the need for sunlight to survive, is it possible that these comets have any life forms?
The space environment is very harsh, even for extremophiles. Bill: Thanks for the great questions, everyone - it was a great chat! Their appearance is unpredictable and their return uncertain. Do they even belong to the solar system? Researchers have tried to answer these questions throughout history.
Step 4. Pour the resulting ice crumbs into a cup in a thin stream, stirring constantly. This will create thick steam. The result is a swelling snow mass. Continue stirring the mixture for a few more seconds after it stops swelling.
Step 5. Remove the bag with the resulting snow from the cup and roll the snow into a strong lump.
Coma is the atmosphere of a comet. Unlike the Earth's atmosphere, it is extremely thin, comparable to a high vacuum chamber in one of our laboratories on Earth. The comet's nucleus releases a constant stream of molecules and dust particles at high speeds, developing a thin coma. Complex interactions with solar radiation and solar wind form tails. Ground-based spectrometers have been used to measure the composition of the coma, but instruments on spacecraft provide more accurate results. Although the chemical and physical processes in a coma change molecules, they give important information about the composition of the nucleus.
Step 6. Roll the resulting lump in the remaining sand and pour water evenly over it on all sides until a monolithic ice crust forms.
Step 7 After the formation of the crust, the process of making the comet's nucleus can be considered complete. If a crack now forms in it when heated, fountains of carbon dioxide mixed with ammonia will flow out of it. The resulting comet should be stored in a freezer, wrapped in napkins, and exposed to the Sun for demonstration..
Comparing the data with interstellar molecular clouds, the composition of the Earth, and the composition of stars provides information about how our planetary system evolved. The ratios of the amounts of isotopes such as deuterium and hydrogen are especially significant here. Sublimation, which defines the characteristic of comets: frozen substances on the surface of the transition of the nucleus directly from solid to gaseous form when exposed to solar radiation. The gas molecules produced in the process along with dust particles escape from the core at high speeds to form a thin coma.
On February 4, 2004, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook. February 13, 2004 scientists South Korea 30 human embryos were cloned, and mobile phones were banned in North Korea on May 24, 2004. On July 1, 2004, the Vatican finally received full (except for the ability to vote) membership in the UN. On September 21, construction began on the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. On October 20, 2004, the first release of the Ubuntu operating system was released. In the same year, the infamous seizure and storming of a school in Beslan occurred, which resulted in multiple casualties, and the first Ukrainian revolution took place. Against the backdrop of these events, the launch on March 2, 2004 from the Kourou cosmodrome in French Guiana of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle with the Rosetta automatic space station on board went almost unnoticed, especially since the main mission of the device, the study of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) , was supposed to begin only 10 years later - in 2014. And now 10 years have passed.
Why study comets?
Unlike scientific missions on planets and their satellites, the study of comets does not have any practical value. It is impossible to colonize the ice blocks rushing around the solar system. Due to high speeds, eccentricity of orbits and long orbital times, mining on comets, even if such minerals are discovered, is unlikely.
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 100 km
On the other hand, comets are one of the few objects available to us that have remained virtually unchanged since the formation of these celestial bodies 4.6 billion years ago. Like asteroids and dwarf planets, comets, despite the aggressive influence of the Sun, are excellent laboratories for studying the conditions that existed in the solar system in the early stages of its formation. A correct understanding of the processes and chronology of the origin of planetary systems is fundamental for many areas of astronomy.
Scientists hope that, like the Rosetta Stone that gave the device its name, which once made it possible to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, Rosetta will help unravel the mysteries of the formation of the Solar system.
So the study of comets is pure science, the satisfaction of the curiosity inherent in the best representatives of humanity.
Background
NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) were the first to become interested in the study of comets using automatic space stations. In 1982, after the end of the main mission of the International Sun/Earth Explorer 3 (ISEE-3), which hovered for five years at the Lagrange point in heliostationary orbit, it was sent to meet comet Giacobini-Zinner (21P/Giacobini-Zinner), “ responsible" for meteor shower Draconids (maximum October 8-10). ISEE-3 encountered the comet on September 11, 1985, passing through its tail at a distance of 7862 km from the nucleus. Unfortunately, no cameras were installed on board the station, so the researchers did not receive any images. However, all this was started for the sake of a completely different comet, the next return of which was supposed to take place in 1986 - famous comet Halley.
Legendary ISEE-3 Pioneer An entire international space fleet - five spacecraft - was preparing to launch for it. ISEE-3 also took part in the ceremony, examining the comet's tail from afar, from a distance of 28 million km. But this is not the end of ISEE-3’s service to science. The device entered a heliocentric orbit and continued to provide information to scientists. Regular communication with it was maintained until 1999. And as it turned out after a control communication session in 2008, at least one of the satellite’s instruments continued to function, so there was hope for the reactivation of the device. In 2014, the crowdfunding project ISEE-3 Reboot Project was launched, which successfully raised $150 thousand. Alas, it was not possible to launch ISEE-3 into the desired orbit, although five of the station’s thirteen scientific instruments were operational again. As part of the Interplanetary Citizen Science Mission, a team of enthusiasts will continue to collect data from the space survivor. However, we digress.
So, the entire international space community was preparing to meet Halley's comet (Halley, not Galileo!). Halley's armada included two Soviet devices "Vega-1" and "Vega-2", two Japanese - Sakigake and Suisei, and a European Giotto.
The Vega project was the last big space project of the USSR - their descent vehicles not only landed on the surface of Venus and dropped unique balloon probes into its atmosphere, but also transmitted the first photographs of the comet’s nucleus, passing at a distance of 8889 and 8030 km from it 6 and 9 March 1986, respectively. Moreover, the data collected by Vega helped correct the trajectory of Giotto, which on March 14, 1986 was able to get within 596 km of Halley’s comet. In total, both Vegas took about 1,500 photographs of the comet, collected information about the composition of the coma, the characteristics of the plasma, etc.
Interplanetary space station "Vega", model Giotto came closer to the nucleus and, unexpectedly for scientists, even survived the rapprochement, although impacts from cometary dust turned the device around and disabled its camera, which still managed to transmit a picture of the nucleus at close range. After meeting with the comet, Giotto's orbit was adjusted, and the satellite itself was put into sleep until 1990. The Awakened One set off for a rendezvous with another comet, Grigg-Skjellerup (26P/Grigg-Skjellerup). And although in the second case the device rushed past the comet at a distance of only 200 km, it was not possible to obtain images due to a camera malfunction. Giotto collected unique data on the composition of the cometary nucleus, coma density, rate of mass loss, etc.
Giotto probe The Japanese Suisei probe examined Halley's comet from a distance of 152,400 km and also received several impacts from microparticles. An attempt to intercept the comet Giacobini-Zinner in 1998 failed due to lack of fuel.
Sakigake studied the important guest from a distance of 6.99 million km. And also, as a sister device, was unable to meet with 21P/Giacobini-Zinner in 1998.
The next comet that was lucky enough to become the object of study was 81P/Wild (81P/Wild, or Wild 2). The United States, which did not have time to participate in the 1986 international space regatta due to cuts in NASA funding, decided to outpace its competitors by returning comet dust samples to Earth for the first time. For this spacecraft Stardust, heading towards the comet, was equipped with 132 airgel-filled cells to capture cosmic dust. Launched on February 7, 1999, the device flew on November 2, 2002 near the Annefrank asteroid and on January 2, 2004, approached Comet Wild at a distance of 237 km. The samples returned to Earth on January 16, 2006. Due to the peculiarities of the vehicle’s orbit, the speed of entry into the dense layers of the atmosphere was a huge 12.9 km/s (this record still holds), overloads during landing reached 34 g, and the heat shield heated up up to 2900 C°. Interestingly, the search for microparticles of comet dust stuck in layers of airgel was carried out by amateur astronomers who studied layer-by-layer micrographs of airgel as part of the Stardust@home project. The main part of Stardust@home has already been completed, but scientists plan to launch a new phase of research soon.
Stardust space dust catcher We cannot ignore NASA's Deep Impact mission to comet 9P/Tempel 1. Launched on January 12, 2005, the device successfully dropped the so-called impactor onto the surface of the comet - a 370-kilogram copper bar with a camera, guidance system and sensors, which created a crater with a diameter of about 100 m, which was later recorded by Stardust flying past. The ejection of matter made it possible to analyze the cometary nucleus, and the results forced scientists to partially revise the theory of comet formation. Deep Impact was able to visit the largest number of comets in a single flight. After 9P/Tempel, he went to 103P/Hartley, exploring comets Garradd (C/2009 P1) and C/2012 S1 (ISON) from afar. Unfortunately, after this the connection with the device was interrupted.
It's time for Rosetta.
Rosetta Mission
The fundamental difference between the Rosetta mission and previous ones is the use not of a collision or flyby trajectory, in which relative speeds can reach tens of kilometers per second, but of entering a solar orbit similar to the orbit of a comet and carefully approaching at minimum speeds. At the time of the first meeting, the speed of the comet and the apparatus was 15.2 km/s, while the relative speed was only 1 m/s.
Rosetta at the assembly stand, 2003 By and large, comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a completely ordinary celestial body, and in general, it was initially planned that Rosetta would go to another target - comet 46P/Wirtanen. But due to the accident of the Ariane 5 launch vehicle shortly before the planned launch, the launch window closed and scientists found an alternative - 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
As stated at the outset, Rosetta launched from Kourou on March 2, 2004, 14 months later than the original planned date. To enter an orbit parallel to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the spacecraft needed four gravity maneuvers - three around Earth and one near Mars. It was these maneuvers that led to an increase in mission time, however, everything was calculated in advance and went strictly according to plan.
During the journey, Rosetta managed to observe from afar the Deep Impact mission on 9P/Tempela and record the collision of the impactor with a comet, visit the small asteroid 2867 Šteins, passing on September 5, 2008 at a distance of 800 km from it, examine the dust tail of the small body P/2010 A2, fly past at a distance of 3162 km large asteroid 21 Lutetia. In 2011, the vehicle, which had gone beyond the orbit of Mars, fell into hibernation, from which it emerged in the area of Jupiter’s orbit on January 20, 2014. From May to July 2014, Rosetta conducted a series of maneuvers, reducing the relative speed from 775 m/s to 1 m/s s, approaching the comet from cosmic 2 million km to quite tangible 100 km.
The device will spend the entire August mapping the comet, providing us with unique images of this celestial body from extremely close range. And scientists will choose a landing site for the Philae lander. Its landing is scheduled for November 2014.
The end of the mission is scheduled for December 2015. By that time, the comet and both devices will again go into deep space, and the energy from the solar panels will no longer be enough for the functioning of the electronics. Given the possible damage from microparticles and dust on the panels, this may happen earlier.
The final part of the Rosetta mission, illustrated before the shape of Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko was known Rosetta will allow scientists to observe the comet's transformation as it approaches the Sun, not only in the immediate vicinity of the celestial body, but also from its surface, thanks to the Philae lander. In addition, one of the tasks of both devices is to search for organic components, the very seeds of life that comets could have brought to Earth millions of years ago.
More than 50 subcontractors, specialists and companies from 14 took part in the creation of the device. European countries. On board the three-ton Rosetta core module, 11 instruments were placed to study the comet's nucleus, coma gases and particles of matter. Among them: three spectrographs for different purposes, a long-focus (140 and 700 mm) OSIRIS camera, which allows obtaining images with a resolution of 2048 × 2048 pixels, a scanning atomic force microscope for studying dust, etc. An experiment on radar scanning of a comet, which will allow one to obtain a kind of “tomography” of the nucleus, should also be interesting.
Rosetta and Philae The orbital module is powered by solar panels with a span of 32 m. At a distance of 3.4 astronomical units from the Sun, in the asteroid belt, it is capable of delivering 850 W, and in Jupiter orbit (5.25 AU) - only 295 W. This is why Rosetta “falls asleep” when moving away from the Sun.
In times of gigabit channels and huge files, the speed of information transfer from the Rosetta probe is amazing. The decimeter antenna provides a transmission speed of 7.8 bit/s (M and K are not skipped at the beginning, namely bit/s), and the centimeter antenna provides 22 kbit/s. And this despite the fact that the solid-state memory array for storing software and measurement data installed on the probe has a volume of 25 GB.
Philae lander The design of the Philae lander, named after the island on the Nile where the Rosetta Stone was found, is also interesting. The comet's mass is not sufficient to create a full gravitational field, so landing requires special tools. When approaching the surface at a speed of 1 m/s, Philae must harpoon the comet and pull itself towards it. After this, drills in three landing rods will come into play, which will “screw” the device to the surface.
Covered in solar panels, the baby Philae weighs 100 kg, 21 of which is scientific equipment. The lander is equipped with a CCD camera that will take pictures during approach and after landing. In addition, the equipment includes several spectrometers, microchambers for studying the surface, a gas chromograph for studying samples, drills for drilling the surface, instruments for sound and electrical probing of the core, etc. Philae is expected to spend one to six weeks on the comet's surface.
Philae at work Waiting to board
Rosetta will spend the coming months approaching the comet. The most interesting thing, the landing of Philae, is scheduled for November 2014. However, the device is already transmitting interesting information and unique images of the nucleus of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of less than 100 km. What is happening now somewhere beyond the orbit of Mars is the most ambitious event in unmanned astronautics since the landing in August 2012.
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 81 km and another angle We wish Rosetta and Philae, as well as their creators, good luck in deep space exploration, especially such complex ones, this is also an important factor.
The European Space Agency website will help you keep up to date with the latest news from Rosetta. The photos of the comet are truly mesmerizing.