COMET LANDING- Europe set to make space history today!!

[OrionHunter]

wow... impressive formation... and the beautiful dark starry background... the scene looks so poetic... i want to stand on a asteroid within fifteen years.

Really? In spite of the comet smelling like a bad mix of rotten eggs and horse urine, among other things!! Yuk!

 

[jamahir]

Really? In spite of the comet smelling like a bad mix of rotten eggs and horse urine, among other things!! Yuk!

stand on asteroid... not comet...

 

[Levina]

from the first picture, it looks nothing like a duck... but more like a humanoid sea creature that had been lost to time...

Try this..here it does look like a duck.

aren't comets supposed to have ice surface??

yess...67P is also icy.
Read this...
The fridge-sized lander is expected to touch down on the comet’s icy surface around 15.30GMT with a half hour delay before its signals reach mission control at the European Space Agency (ESA). If successful it will be the first ever soft landing on a comet in history – an achievement compared to throwing a hammer from London that hits the head of a nail in Delhi.

Once attached to the two-mile-long comet’s surface with a pair of explosive harpoons, Philae will begin to take samples from the comet, baking them in an internal oven to analyse the chemicals and organic material present.
Philae lander successfully launches from Rosetta orbiter and is on its way to the comet's surface - Science - News - The Independent

ahhh... first thing compulsory smelling for the mornings... but are the gases corrosive and explosive??

No idea....

so, just because present technology doesn't allow powerful space engines ( at least those not nuclear ), the short distance took ten years because of need for sling-shots and all...

May be a decade back when they were launching Rosetta they didnt have too many options.

so i await... 21:30 indian time...

then it should be 8pm my time. Lol

by the way, what of the japanese asteroid mission ( hayabusa) which has brought back dust from the asteroid itokawa?? anyone know recent news??

Try this
Mineralogy and crystallography of some Itokawa particles returned by the Hayabusa asteroidal sample return mission - Springer

 

[OrionHunter]

Try this..here it does look like a duck.
View attachment 150209

More like an angry ogre!

 

[Levina]

An angry ogre!

View attachment 150220

Good photoshop skills.

 

[jamahir]

Try this..here it does look like a duck.


View attachment 150209

it does look like a duck... but if you look at just the head, it also looks like a sleeping baby owl or baby eagle...

yess...67P is also icy.
Read this...
The fridge-sized lander is expected to touch down on the comet’s icy surface around 15.30GMT with a half hour delay before its signals reach mission control at the European Space Agency (ESA). If successful it will be the first ever soft landing on a comet in history – an achievement compared to throwing a hammer from London that hits the head of a nail in Delhi.

"icy surface" meaning "ice surface" or just "cold surface"?? the b/w photos are confusing for such questions... maybe the lander has color camera, and we will also know that soon from other instruments... but if "ice surface", comets will have a tail only when they are close to sun... am i right??

Try this
Mineralogy and crystallography of some Itokawa particles returned by the Hayabusa asteroidal sample return mission - Springer

that has so many technical wordings... it will take me some months to understand what is "cell" and what are those greek alphabets...

but thanks for the find.

 

[OrionHunter]

stand on asteroid... not comet...

Ok! My bad! Asteroid it is!

And how the dickens are you gonna 'stand' on an asteroid in zero gravity?

 

[OrionHunter]

... but if "ice surface", comets will have a tail only when they are close to sun... am i right??

Right!

 

[Levina]

it does look like a duck... but if you look at just the head, it also looks like a sleeping baby owl or baby eagle...



"icy surface" meaning "ice surface" or just "cold surface"?? the b/w photos are confusing for such questions... maybe the lander has color camera, and we will also know that soon from other instruments... but if "ice surface", comets will have a tail only when they are close to sun... am i right??
that has so many technical wordings... it will take me some months to understand what is "cell" and what are those greek alphabets...

but thanks for the find.

Right!

with you guys around sometimes I feel I should just seal my mouth for I might sound very dilettante. lolzz

 

[jamahir]

And how the dickens are you gonna 'stand' on an asteroid in zero gravity?

yes, complicated... jet-pack, rope, simple standing... depends on size of asteroid... after all, sizes range from a few meters big to hundreds of kilometers in diameter... so , sometimes gravity is enough for one to stand without help.

in one book of ben bova, the hero digs into a small asteroid to hide... he can do so because it is made of pebbles held loosely together by weak atomic forces..

with you guys around sometimes I feel I should just seal my mouth for I might sound very dilettante. lolzz

thing is, i had to google for meaning of "dilettante"... and i like to ask simple questions to simplify for myself... that is how one actually learns, yes??

 

[Nova2]

Look at this pic clicked by Rosetta at 10km....this comet has weird rock formations.

View attachment 150152

Saw this pic mins before you posted it,this site has an audio of 67P,though i coudn't find it,you can have a look...
Scientists reveal the sound of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

When will eu land on sun?

When the sun won't shine.

 

[Levina]

Saw this pic mins before you posted it,this site has an audio of 67P,though i coudn't find it,you can have a look...
Scientists reveal the sound of the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

When the sun won't shine.

Now they have decided where to land it...

I

thing is, i had to google for meaning of "dilettante"... and i like to ask simple questions to simplify for myself... that is how one actually learns, yes??

Dilettante is my fav pet word

 

[jamahir]

Dilettante is my fav pet word

yes, i have seen you use it before...

 

[Nova2]

wow... impressive formation... and the beautiful dark starry background... the scene looks so poetic... i want to stand on a asteroid within fifteen years.



land on sun?? well, with present technology one cannot even be within one million kilometers of the sun... read about the "hinode" project of jaxa ( japan space agency ) which has taken photos of sun... one is below... an electromagnetic formation on the surface..

View attachment 150196

Lol 1million kms,poor sat would feel like a chicken fried at 50K c , the closest one has got is 43million kms, if i m not mistaken, travelling around sun at 200+mach (~70km/sec). Though i am waiting for solar probe plus to be launched in 2018 which would approach within 5.9mill kms to the atmosphere of the sun travelling at 200+km/sec (600mach?),cool.

 

[jamahir]

Though i am waiting for solar probe plus to be launched in 2018 which would approach within 5.9mill kms to the atmosphere of the sun travelling at 200+km/sec (600mach?),cool.

which is that probe??