Ison: The comet of the century

[bobistheowl]

I think comets are chock full of the molecules that have the potential to form life, provided that they land in the right place. If they hit a place that's too hot, they melt and evaporate. If they hit a place that's too cold, they stay frozen. They need to land where they will liquify, and remain in that state. There are tons of them, but only a few hit and stick, sort of the same odds that a specific sperm cell has of reaching the egg. They even kind of look similar, as they approach the terrestrial planets, and the sun starts to melt the outer layers.

 

[oldguyzer]

And maybe solar systems are nothing but the atoms of a much larger universe. And perhaps there are civilizations forming at a sub-atomic level on electrons that we cannot yet detect.

Way too deep for my little mind :biggrin2:

 

[bobistheowl]

And maybe solar systems are nothing but the atoms of a much larger universe. And perhaps there are civilizations forming at a sub-atomic level on electrons that we cannot yet detect.

Like at the end of The Incredible Shrinking Man.

 

[User-E]

Sun's sizzling X-rays photographed from space

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30587002

 

[User-E]

Controllers now banking on Philae wake-up call

Controllers say they will simply wait now for Philae itself to call home.

They will begin listening in a few weeks' time with the hope that communications could be established in the May/June timeframe. This would be when improved lighting conditions at the probe's presumed resting place provide enough power to run the onboard radio transmitter.

Esa on Friday released the full image sequence of the washing-machine-sized Philae drifting away from Rosetta at the start of November's descent to 67P.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30931443

 

[User-E]

The comet being trailed through space by Europe's Rosetta probe has no magnetic field of its own.

The finding is significant because it answers one of the major questions of the mission - namely, did magnetic fields play a major role in pulling together the material that makes up icy dirt-balls like 67P? On this evidence, it would seem not. Other formation processes must have been paramount in the nascent Solar System, 4.5 billion years ago.

Researchers working on the European Space Agency mission released their assessment here at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly meeting. They have also published a paper in the journal Science. The data to support the discovery comes in part from the spacecraft Rosetta, but also from its lander Philae, which was dropped on to the surface of 4km-wide 67P last November. Both carry sensitive magnetometers.

When the "mothership" and lander parted company, they began a series of measurements of their local environment. The pair could sense not only the magnetic field carried in the solar wind streaming off the Sun, but their interactions with it as they moved. In the case of Philae, this allowed scientists to understand changes in direction and even the action of onboard electronic equipment and the deployment of structures such as legs and booms.

In the data, researchers can see the moment Philae first touches the surface of Comet 67P. It is detected in the movement of the magnetometer boom and a change in rotation. Famously, the robot bounced, and data indicates that after a period of 46 minutes, and after covering a distance of some 630m, Philae made its next contact with the surface. But this is clearly a glancing blow with a cliff structure, because the interpretation of the data is that the robot starts tumbling.

A further 600 or so metres on this unexpected journey across the comet, Philae made a more solid touchdown, before briefly lifting up again and coming to rest, finally, in the dark ditch it managed to photograph just prior to running out of battery power. From first to fourth contact is a separation of 117 minutes.

To tell this full story, scientists had to pull together a range of other information gathered during the descent, but the critical observation is that during its bounces, Philae saw no correlation between the strength of the magnetic field and its height above the surface.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32298516

 

[Creepy]

Learned something new today.

 

[User-E]

Rosetta's comet throws out big jet

Europe's Rosetta probe has caught its comet quarry in the act of producing a huge jet of gas and dust.

"This was a chance discovery", added Osiris Principal Investigator Holger Sierks, also at MPS in Göttingen, Germany. "No-one has ever witnessed the wake-up of a dust jet before. It is impossible to plan such an image."



More images here: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32380793

 

[Loophole]

Rosetta's comet throws out big jet

Europe's Rosetta probe has caught its comet quarry in the act of producing a huge jet of gas and dust.

"This was a chance discovery", added Osiris Principal Investigator Holger Sierks, also at MPS in Göttingen, Germany. "No-one has ever witnessed the wake-up of a dust jet before. It is impossible to plan such an image."



More images here: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-32380793

Cool.

 

[User-E]

Europe's Comet Probe Philae Has Woken Up :good:

The European Space Agency says the comet probe Philae has woken up seven months after scientists lost contact.

Philae, a 100kg robot lab, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by mothership, Rosetta, last November after a 10-year trek.

Philae's mission was to unveil the secrets of comets which some experts believe may hold the secrets to how the Solar System was formed.

But instead of attaching itself to the iceball's surface, the little lander bounced and settled at an angle in a dark ditch.

It worked for 60 hours before going to sleep when its solar-powered battery ran flat but the comet has now sparked into life, transmitting signals for two minutes, as well as 40 seconds worth of data.

Some of the data was historical, indicating that Philae may have been awake earlier but unable to communicate with Rosetta.

Stephan Ulamec, project manager at the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, said: "Philae is doing very well. The lander is ready for operations."

The space probe's Twitter account, run by the Lander Control Centre LCC in Cologne, announced Philae's revival, tweeting after a seven-month silence: "Hello Earth! Can you hear me?"

Then in a tweet directed at the account for its mothership, the space agency wrote: "Hello @ESA_Rosetta! I'm awake! How long have I been asleep?"

After a reply saying the rest had been seven months, the Philae account tweeted back: "Wow @ESA_Rosetta! That’s a long time… time for me to get back to work! #Lifeonacomet".

In November the Rosetta Mission had successfully landed the probe on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko amidst much jubilation and fist-pumping in the European Space Agency's headquarters.

The comet is 300 million miles away and ESA director general Jean-Jacques Dordain had told a delighted audience: "This is a big step for human civilisation."

But just a few days later, the agency said all systems on board the craft had shut down and the comet probe, roughly the size of a dishwasher, had entered as "possibly long silence".

"This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions, and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered," said Stephan Ulamec from the European Space Operations Centre.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/europes-comet-probe-philae-woken-113458419.html#wc2QG6f

 

[User-E]

I can't believe I'm able to follow a probe sitting on a comet, on Twitter! :toocool:

ESA Rosetta Mission ‏@ESA_Rosetta 3h3 hours ago
.@Philae2014 I was taking a photo of #67P around the time you said hello, here's the view from 200km away! *waves* pic.twitter.com/17lbWPMYDR

Philae Lander ‏@Philae2014 3h3 hours ago
What a great picture @ESA_Rosetta! #67P is amazing! Nice to see what my new home looks like from orbit as we approach the Sun #Lifeonacomet

 

[Cardinal Fang]

I can't believe I'm able to follow a probe sitting on a comet, on Twitter! :toocool:

I can't believe it has more followers than real people.

 

[User-E]

I can't believe it has more followers than real people.

I wonder if we'd get more followers if we sat on a probe too? Hmmmmmm

 

[Cardinal Fang]

I wonder if we'd get more followers if we sat on a probe too? Hmmmmmm

*Stares at Lori*

Really?

TOO EASY Lori. I'm going to let the others handle this one. :wink2:

 

[Cardinal Fang]

I wonder if I'd get more followers if I sat on a probe too? Hmmmmmm

FUCK IT!

I fixed if for you.

*Runs*

 

[User-E]

FUCK IT!

I fixed if for you.

*Runs*

Would you be more likely to follow a twitterer if you knew she was sitting on a sybian while tweeting? :wink2:

 

[Cardinal Fang]

Would you be more likely to follow a twitterer if you knew she was sitting on a sybian while tweeting? :wink2:

I'll take that and raise you "reading while on a Sybian."

 

[Cardinal Fang]

The best of Hysterical Literature

 

[User-E]

Would I get more followers if I sat on your face while tweeting?

 

[bolt.upright]

Would I get more followers if I sat on your face while tweeting?

I'd unfollow you just so I could follow you again.