Comet 67P/C-G observed with the Very Large Telescope - 11 August 2014
Date: 08 September 2014
Satellite: Rosetta
Depicts: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Copyright: Colin Snodgrass/ESO/ESA
This image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken on 11 August 2014 using one of the 8 m-diameter telescopes of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. It was made by stacking 40 short exposure images (each lasting 50 seconds) and then removing the background stars.
Although faint, the comet is clearly active, revealing a dusty coma extending at least 19 000 km from the nucleus. The coma is asymmetric, as the dust is swept away from the Sun – located beyond the lower right corner of the image – to form the beginnings of a tail.
Last Update: 23 September 2021
