Another Comet Cometh

[changeling67]

(Source - http://news.softpedia.com/ - Accessed 17/07/14)

There is a comet the size of an ice mountain hurtling through space.  Originally thought to be peanut-shaped, the lyrically-named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has now been identified as a “contact binary” (Source – Accessed 17/07/14), a possible combination of two different parts

(Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27110882 - Accessed 17/07/14)

The Rosetta probe will be firing up its thrusters sometime in early August and will hope to be riding on the 'ice bronco' (calculated to be about 4km wide) around early November. The mission is to "return some remarkable insights on the behaviour and chemical make-up of its ice quarry" (Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27517090 - Accessed 17/07/14).

Full story and past articles --------------->  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27110882

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Alas, I am far more likely to remember failed missions like the Beagle 2 which disapeared down a Mars crater, like a very expensive golf ball down a red dusty hole. I remember the commotion about comet Ison last November, which promised a lot, but disintegrated before it passed us by.  I have had a brief read and I presume that since Rosetta is hanging around the Jupiter corridor, little 67P is not likely to hurtle our way.  Still, if they are able to pull this off, it will be interesting.