Scientists obtained the first images taken by robotic lander Philae of the European Space Agency, which had separated from the spacecraft Rosetta and landed on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 500 million kilometers away from the Earth. The journey from Rosetta to the comet’s surface lasted about seven hours. Rosetta and Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which was discovered in 1969 by Soviet astronomers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko, now lie about half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, rushing towards the inner Solar System at nearly 55,000 kilometers per hour, the ESA said.
Spacecraft's "selfie" and other images from the Rosetta comet mission
Scientists obtained the first images of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 500 million kilometers away from the Earth, taken by robotic lander Philae
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Scientists obtained the first images taken by robotic lander Philae of the European Space Agency, which had separated from the spacecraft Rosetta and landed on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 500 million kilometers away from the Earth
© AP Photo/ESA, ATG Medialab Photo: Comet 67P/CG pictured by ROLIS instrument on the Philae lander during descent from a distance of approximately 3 km on November 12, 2014. ROLIS (ROsetta Lander Imaging System) is a descent and close-up camera on the Philae Lander
© ESA/Rosetta/Philae/DLR Photo: the smaller of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko’s two lobes
© ESA/Rosetta/ NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 Photo: boulder named Cheops. Cheops and the surrounding cluster of boulders reminded scientists of the famous pyramids at Giza near Cairo in Egypt
© ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 The aim of the ROLIS experiment is to study the texture and microstructure of the comet's surface. Photo: cliffs of the comet’s large lobe
© ESA/Rosetta/ NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 This mosaic comprises four individual NAVCAM images taken from 31.8 km from the centre of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
© ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0 Rosetta spacecraft's "selfie" with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko made from a distance of about 16 km from the surface of the comet
© ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA Photo: A model demonstrates how Philae lander stands on the comet in the European Space Agency (ESA), Darmstadt, Germany, 12 November 2014
© EPA/ARNE DEDERT Photo: A full-sized model of space probe Philae at the exploration hall of the Institute for Space Systems at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bremen, Germany
© EPA/INGO WAGNER