Image of the southern polar regions of Comet 67P/C-G taken with Rosetta's OSIRIS imaging system on 29 September 2014, when they were still experiencing the long southern winter. (Photo : ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA)
The comet hunting probe Rosetta has already been taking spectacular images of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko since last year however, a mysterious, dark side of the comet has been out of view during its odd seasonal shifts.
Now, mission scientists from the European Space Agency have utilized a special camera on board the Rosetta probe where scientists were able to draw out a sketch of this elusive side of the comet.
Comet 67P possesses a bizarre double lobe shape where its rotational axis causes an odd seasonal pattern during a 6.5 year orbit around the sun. The comet experiences an unusual long summer that lasts for 5.5 years in the northern hemisphere while its southern hemisphere on the other hand, goes into a long, dark winter. During perihelion, or the comet's closest point to the sun, the southern hemisphere experiences summer for a brief moment where it can become extremely hot.
When Rosetta arrived last August 2014, the comet's northern hemisphere is still on its long summer which makes it challenging for onboard cameras to take a photograph. Rosetta's VIRTIS and OSIRIS cameras only work with direct sunlight and after several months since the probe's rendezvous with the comet, the MIRO (Microwave Instrument for Rosetta) camera was able to scan this mystery side.
The MIRO instrument can detect amounts of substances such as water, carbon dioxide and ammonia and measure temperatures via microwave emissions. Chemical compositions of the comet's dark side were measured where mission scientists were also able to draw out a topographical image.
More recently, scientists already detected a transparent material found on top or below the comet's surface which could be a potential candidate for water ice or carbon dioxide ice. These results will still undergo more analyses as the team is now examining MIRO data with an updated model version of the comet's dark side.
