Comet spacecraft reaches comet after 10 years in space
Ever wonder what a comet looks like, up close? The spacecraft Rosetta was sent to find out has finally reached it's target comet after travelling out for 10 years. 10 years of space travel! That comet is (thankfullly) far out. Here's a very in-depth article from New Scientist. What's so rad about this spacecraft, is it will LAND on the comet. Whoh, never has that happened. Scientists are hoping to find clues to the origins of life on earth. Here's the latest from NASA.
So what is a comet? It's mostly a giant spitball of ice and dirt. Famous Canadian David Levy knows a thing or two about them, he's discovered 22 of them! He's written tons about space, I'd say he's pretty well qualified to do so too.
Did you know, the person who's discovered the most comets is a woman astronomer. Cool! Carolyn S. Shoemaker (Yes, part of the Shoemaker-Levy comet crew) has discovered 32 comets and over 300 asteroids. Pretty darn cool.
Here's a close-up photo from Rosetta:
Kinda looks like something that's stuck under cafeteria chairs, but much more fascinating.
4 thoughts on “Comet spacecraft reaches comet after 10 years in space”
Wow, pretty cool! It must have been a lot of work for Carolyn S. Shoemaker to find that many comets and asteroids. Pretty impressive and interesting.
I’ve read about comets before, but I would never imagine that a 10 year old space craft would eventually actually hit a comet, so awesome
It’s true, we never really learn about these kinds of things in class. Really interesting.
It is cool that Carolyn S. Shoemaker found a lot of comets and asteroids. It is very interesting how she holds the record for the most comets discovered.