Rosetta and comet 67P/C-G to scale (annotated)
Date: 15 July 2014
Satellite: Rosetta
Copyright: ESA
Rosetta and comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to scale (Rosetta is indicated by the circle).
The Rosetta spacecraft is 32 m across, measuring from tip to tip of the solar wings. In this image, it is 10 km from the surface of a 4 km-wide comet. Unlike typical artist's impressions, the image is scaled to show the vast difference in size between Rosetta and the comet (note that the comet depicted here is an artist's impression). The spacecraft is 125 times smaller than the comet.
Rosetta arrives at the comet at an altitude of 100 km in the first week of August, and will move progressively closer over the following two months, with the intention to orbit at an altitude of just 10 km, depending on the comet's activity.
NOTE: As of October 2014 this image is superseded by an updated version, with a real image of the comet taken by Rosetta's navigation camera.
