Philae Lander
This is an animation of the Philae probe on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The probe
is expected to land on the comet nucleus in November 2014, after being dispatched from the Rosetta
mothership in orbit around the comet.
The comet is only moderately active
at present, and will not reach maximum activity until its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion)
in August 2015. I show the landscape not as it is at the time of the landing, but at a time closer
to perihelion. Ices are sublimating from the surface and a coma has formed around the nucleus,
giving the sky a hazy, yellow hue.
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