APOD: 2024 December 16 B A Kilometer High Cliff on Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko
| << Yesterday | 16.12.2024 |
Credit & Copyright: Stuart Atkinson
Explanation:
This kilometer high cliff occurs on the surface of a comet.
It was discovered on the dark nucleus of
Comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko (CG) by
Rosetta,
a robotic spacecraft
launched by
ESA,
which orbited the comet from 2014 to 2016.
The ragged cliff, as featured
here, was imaged by Rosetta early in its mission.
Although towering about one kilometer high, the low surface gravity of
Comet CG would likely make a
jump from the
cliffs by a human survivable.
At the foot of the cliffs is relatively smooth terrain dotted with
boulders as large as 20 meters across.
Data from
Rosetta indicates that the ice in
Comet CG has a significantly different
deuterium fraction --
and hence likely a different origin -- than the water in Earth's oceans.
The probe was named after the
Rosetta Stone, a rock slab featuring the
same text written in three different languages
that helped humanity
decipher ancient Egyptian writing.
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 |
Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr' |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
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Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
comet nucleus
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