Due to the unfortunate weather conditions this week- I have not been able to do very much observing. So I took Mr. Percival's advice and went onto www.astronomycast.com and listen to one of their episodes. The episode I chose was Episode 351: Asteroid Adventures.
Episode 351: Asteroid Adventures
This episode focuses on Rosetta's arrival at Comet 67/P. They're landing Rosetta on the Comet- something scientists didn't think there was enough gravity to do. Comet 67/P is beyond Mars. It is making an elliptical orbit around the comet, which it will eventually harpoon and land on. Solar power here is almost non-collectable and it takes 10-11 years to get the correct orbit and ability to land. Rosetta will approach Comet 67/P at 2 miles an hour until it touches, then it will eject 2 harpoons to anchor itself. Comet 67/P is about the size of Texas, meaning it has extremely low gravity.
Comet 67/P will only get aobut 3 AU from the Sun. The goal of the mission is to collect samples of what comes off of the comet, and what to comet does, as it passes perihelion in December of 2015.
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