Rosetta snaps a picture of its own shadow on the comet below

If the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft was a groundhog, we would all be worrying about six more weeks of winter right now. As it is, it's always winter on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The comet is frigid, coming in at -94 degrees Fahrenheit.

The ESA released an image Tuesday of the comet-orbiting Rosetta leaving a fleeting mark on the comet: its shadow. The space agency describes it as being "encircled in a wreath of light." It was a rare confluence of circumstances that enabled the image to exist as the sun, spacecraft and comet all came into alignment.

The shadow is diffuse, rather than sharp. The ESA explains this by noting, "If you were standing on the surface with Rosetta high above you, there would be no place in the shadow where the entire Sun would be blocked from view, which explains why there is no fully dark core to the shadow."

The image was taken during a close flyby of the comet on February 14, but the ESA just now brought it to the public's attention. Rosetta -- which was launched back in 2004 and sent on a mission to approach and study Comet 67P -- was at a distance of about 3.7 miles from the comet's surface at the time.

What's so intriguing about the shadow image is that it's something familiar happening in an alien place, 317 million miles away. We're all used to seeing our shadows here on Earth. Rosetta casting a shadow on a comet puts its epic space adventure into a more human perspective.

Comments

Qualcomm teases Snapdragon 820 while launching Sense ID fingerprint scanner

Qualcomm has announced a new fingerprint scanner destined for smartphones, called Sense ID , which uses ultrasonic sound waves to map the surface of your finger. Previous methods of fingerprint recognition used high-resolution capacitive sensors, but switching to ultrasonic sensors has a number of benefits. Firstly, these types of sensors are more accurate than their capacitive counterparts, as they're able to recognize the pores and ridges on your finger for increased security. They're also not as susceptible to moisture as previous sensors, and can work through glass, sapphire, plastic and even metal. Sense ID sensors will be compatible initially with Snapdragon 810 and 425 SoCs, although you'll eventually see them supported across the entire range of Snapdragon 400, 600 and 800 series SoCs. As well as launching Sense ID, Qualcomm has teased their upcoming flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 820 . Qualcomm has designed their own 64-bit capable ARMv8 cores for this SoC...

RPT - INSIGHT-Near Fed majority backs June liftoff Yellen hasn't yet endorsed

(Repeats for additional subscribers) By Howard Schneider (Reuters) - Janet Yellen's premium on consensus may lead to a Federal Reserve decision the chair hasn't yet endorsed, as a near majority aligns in favor of a possible June interest rate hike. Seven of the Fed's current 17 members have now said they at least want the option of a June tightening on the table, or have pushed in general for an earlier increase amid an expectation that wages and inflation will turn higher. By contrast, there's a dwindling core of officials who say publicly that the economy and labor markets in particular still have a long way to go -- only four Fed members have in recent weeks clearly said that rate hikes won't be appropriate until much later in the year or even into 2016. The five members of the Fed's Washington-based board of governors, including Yellen, have spoken less definitively, though governors including Jerome Powell have said they expected strong job gro...

The Bachelor Women Tell All Special

I've been waiting on the Women Tell All Special since episode two. The personalities this season have been phenomenal. Obviously, I was most excited to watch Kelsey use big words to back track on her assertion that her husband's death was an amazing story, and for Carly and Britt to get awkward. It all happened, and it was great. I think the best thing about this episode was the screen shots, so I'll include those. 1. Chris starts asking the girls questions, and Jillian jumps in to scream at Carly that Britt is the most genuine person she knows. Why can't we get a black box over Jillian's mouth? Samantha and Trina decide to speak finally, better late than never, and both are actually quite sassy. 2. I'll say something nice first, it looks like Britt showered for this. Britt has mastered the art of a crying face, without water actually coming out of her eyes. Crying makes me uncomfortable, ergo Britt makes me uncomfortable. She's mostly concerned about...

News420

Search This Blog