Rosette captures the eruption of a new geyser

Rosette captures the eruption of a new geyser

On March 12, the Rosetta spacecraft made an image of the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko from a distance of 75 kilometers (46 miles) and, by pure chance, he noticed an eruption of dusty material from a shadowed core.

Long-term space missions are needed to fully understand the evolution of the comet, which gradually heats up as it approaches the Sun. And so it happened that the Rosetta, which is in orbit of the 67P, is ready at any moment to detect any transient event that may flare up at any moment on the surface.

The last such event occurred at the bottom of the comet, which is in the shadows. It is assumed that a certain amount of sunlight has heated outcrops, providing enough energy to sublimate underground ice and throw away steam and dust in the form of a jet. This jet was captured and measured by the Rosetta scientific imaging system called “Osiris”. Currently, 67P is making the closest approach to the Sun (perihelion), and the comet produces many similar eruptions on the sunny side, but such a strong eruption in the shadow part of the comet will provide scientists with valuable scientific information.

"It was an accidental discovery," is Osiris Holger Searks, principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. “No one has ever seen a jet awakening. It’s impossible to schedule such an event.”

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