Rosetta’s Target Gets Clearer

Two Knobs joined by a Neck

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Courtesy: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

The day after tomorrow (August 6, 2014) the Rosetta spacecraft arrives at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and to celebrate, we’ve got another image to look at. This one was taken on the 3rd with the NAVCAM system, and it makes the comet look more intriguing than ever.

What intrigues ME most about this image, aside from the craters and ridges (which are pretty darned interesting in their own right), is the “neck” of material joining the two knobs. I imagine the mission astronomers are talking a lot about it, too. In this view it appears smoother in some places than in others. That makes me wonder at the processes that smoothed it out. Were they part of an event that “stuck” two pieces together in a collision?  Is this nucleus part of a larger one that broke apart along some interior seams?

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