A Dust Jet from the Surface of Comet 67P
Image Credit & Copyright: ESA, Rosetta, MPS, OSIRIS; UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Explanation: Where do comet tails come from? There are no obvious places on the
nuclei of comets from which the
jets that create
comet tails emanate. Last year, though, ESA's
Rosetta spacecraft not only imaged a
jet emerging from
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but flew right through it. Featured is
a telling picture showing a
bright plume emerging from a small circular dip bounded on one side by a 10-meter high wall. Analyses of
Rosetta data shows that the jet was composed of both dust and water-ice. The
mundane terrain indicates that
something likely happened far under the porous surface to create the plume.
This image was taken last July, about two months before
Rosetta's mission ended with a controlled impact onto Comet 67P's surface.
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