May 29, 2015

1,776 Portraits of a Comet

A stunning library of comet close-ups

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How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Between the 23rd of September and the 21st of November 2014 ESA's Rosetta mission made its closest orbital passes of Comet 67-P/C-G, coming to within 8 km of the surface during and after Philae's plucky landing sequence.

ESA has now released its archive of NAVCAM imagery from this part of the mission, containing a staggering 1,776 images. You can access the full library here. Although not as high-resolution as the OSIRIS science camera, these images more than make up for that with their coverage.

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During this period the spacecraft was following an intricate series of orbital manuevers to get in close to the lumpy cometary nucleus.

The result is a truly extraordinary photographic gallery, each image is a portrait, yet each image is merely a tiny part of a grander portrait. There is immense scientific value in this archive, a trove to be sifted through for clues and insights to the nature of one of the most ancient cosmic bodies we've ever explored.

But there is also a purely aesthetic value. Take a few minutes to peruse, and remember that scenes like these exist across the universe, in their trillions, quadrillions, and more.

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