First Close-Up Photos Of The Solar System’s “Most Crazy Bonkers Comet”

In March 2004 , ESA ’s Rosetta spacecraft left Earth in following of comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko . Today , more than 10 age and four billion mile afterward , Rosetta became the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet . The probe is now soaring through space in tandem bicycle with its butt – and the view is unbelievable .

Rosetta is currently flying in front of the comet , represent its gravitational field . In the coming workweek , Rosetta will settle into 67P ’s cranial orbit . It will do so at a space of around 30 kilometers at first , but will slowly circle in closer . In November , from a projected orbital distance of just 2.5 km , Rosetta will bank a lander on the comet ’s surface – all this in preparation for 67P ’s closest crack of the Sun in more than six years . As it swings around our parent star , the mass of frappe and debris will warm , shedding bits of itself along the agency ; Rosetta – and Philae , the lander – will have unprecedented front rowing seats to the show .

All that , of course , is yet to come . In the meantime , Rosetta is capturing some of the most elaborate views of a comet ’s open we ’ve ever seen . flick free this morning show the rubber ducky – forge comet in all its lopsided aureole , and some hi - res control surface images of what ESA senior scientist Mark McCaughrean called “ the most softheaded bonkers comet in the solar system ” :