ESA Portal - Rosetta: OSIRIS’ view of Earth by night

Media Centre

Press Releases ESA Television Launch Media Corner Exhibitions

Services

Calendar Publications Frequently asked questions ESA-sponsored Conferences Help Site Credits Portal terms of use Comments Subscribe

Rosetta: OSIRIS’ view of Earth by night

15 November 2007

Back to article

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 416 kb)

This is a composite of four images combined to show the illuminated crescent of Earth and the cities of the northern hemisphere. The images were acquired with the OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera (WAC) during Rosetta’s second Earth swing-by on 13 November.

This image showing islands of light created by human habitation was taken with the OSIRIS WAC at 19:45 CET, about 2 hours before the closest approach of the spacecraft to Earth. At the time, Rosetta was about 80 000 km above the Indian Ocean where the local time approached midnight (the angle between Sun, Earth and Rosetta was about 160°). The image was taken with a five-second exposure of the WAC with the red filter.

This image showing Earth’s illuminated crescent was taken with the WAC at 20:05 CET as Rosetta was about 75 000 km from Earth. The crescent seen is around Antarctica. The image is a colour composite combining images obtained at various wavelengths.

Credits: ESA ©2005 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/ UPM/DASP/IDA

Rosetta Blog

ESA's comet chaser

Spacecraft Operations

Related ESApod

Rosetta swing-by update

Rosetta Earth swing-by

For the media

Media Press Kit Rosetta 2nd Earth swing-by Q & A

The Moon and Europe - Rosetta OSIRIS images Rosetta: OSIRIS’ view of Earth by night Cities at night: Extraordinary Rosetta images Images of Earth and Moon captured by Rosetta Rosetta swing-by a success Rosetta right on track for Earth swing-by Rosetta closes in on Earth – a second time Boosting the accuracy of Rosetta's Earth approach Rosetta teams up with New Horizons Rosetta delivers Phobos transit animation and 'sees' Mars in stereo Rosetta successfully swings by Mars Stunning view of Rosetta skimming past Mars