Image Cache: At 8:39PM AEST yesterday, a spacecraft weighing over 2000k with a wingspan half that of a Boeing 747 crashed gently into a comet’s surface, following 13 hours of free-fall. These, my friends, are the last, fleeting glimpses of Comet 67P that Rosetta managed to capture before its instruments went dead.
Comet 67P from 1.2km. All images: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Browse through the cool photos, animations and diagrams in Gizmodo’s Image Cache here.
They’re also some of the best photos humans have ever taken of the surface of a comet, period. So enjoy them — because we won’t get another mission like this for a long time.
Comet 67P from 1.2km.
The Rosetta spacecraft’s landing site, Ma’at, is stitched together here from a series of images. It was aiming for a a spot between the pits seen on the left and right.
Comet 67P from 5.8km.
Comet 67P from 8.9km.
Comet 67P from 15.5km, showing the entire ‘head’ region where Ma’at is located.
Comet 67P from 19.4km.
Comet 67P from 20km.
On Rosetta’s blog, the ESA also posted a series of screenshots showing the signal from the spacecraft fading into white noise at around 9:19PM AEST (it takes 40 minutes for communications to travel from Comet 67P to the Earth). No doubt, these images will come in handy when Rosetta truthers start insisting that the comet landing was faked.
Fading…
Fading…
Gone.
Fare thee well, Rosetta. Your watch is over.
From #67P with love: a last image, taken 51 metres before #CometLanding #MissionComplete https://t.co/yiSnxDrnba pic.twitter.com/MNuz622tNJ
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) September 30, 2016
#MissionComplete #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/dEXrDUCHML
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) September 30, 2016