The Sky Tonight

August 06, 2014

Rosetta Arrives At Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Paris (ESA) Aug 06, 2014
After a decade-long journey chasing its target, ESA's Rosetta has today become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, opening a new chapter in Solar System exploration. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and Rosetta now lie 405 million kilometres from Earth, about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, rushing towards the inner Solar System at nearly 55 000 kilometres per hour. The comet is in an elliptical 6.5-year orbit that takes it from beyond Jupiter at its furthest poi ... read more

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