[meteorite-list] Crescent Mars (Rosetta)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2012 09:32:48 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201210011632.q91GWmYd010676_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMAR9ERI7H_index_0.html

Crescent Mars
European Space Agency
1 October 2012
 
The sight of the crescent Moon hanging in the sky above Earth is a
familiar one, but this image taken by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft as it
passed by the Red Planet in February 2007 captures the rare view of a
skinny slice of Mars.

Many delicate crescent views of planets and moons in our Solar System
have been provided by past flyby missions, but this was the first time
Mars had been imaged in this way.

The flyby was the second of four planetary gravity assists needed to
slingshot Rosetta to its final destination, comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko,
where it will arrive in summer 2014. The three other gravity boosts were
provided by our home planet, Earth.

During the Mars flyby, Rosetta's imaging team attempted to capture the
nightglow in the planet's atmosphere. These weak emissions of light are
produced in the upper atmosphere when nitrogen and oxygen atoms combine
and release energy.

Although the white crescent of Mars appears overexposed, a tiny piece of
the planet's atmosphere can be seen glowing in the 11 o'clock position.

Internal reflections within the camera's optics are present as the red
and fuzzy blue haloes.

Rosetta is now in deep-space hibernation. It will wake up on 20 January
2014 and rendezvous with its target comet four months later.

Rosetta will be the first mission ever to orbit a comet's nucleus and
land a probe on its surface.

It will also be the first to fly alongside a comet as it heads towards
the inner Solar System, watching how a comet is transformed by the
warmth of the Sun.

Since comets are considered the primitive building blocks of the Solar
System, Rosetta will help scientists to learn more about their role in
the evolution of our local cosmic neighbourhood.
Received on Mon 01 Oct 2012 12:32:48 PM PDT