Mission scientist reacts to historic first images from the surface of a comet

A stunning sequence of images from Rosetta’s narrow-angle OSIRIS camera shows the dramatic journey of the Philae lander as it approaches and bounces on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12th November 2014.

A comet strike may have triggered the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a rapid warming of the Earth caused by an accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide 56 million years ago. Atmospheric carbon dioxide increased rapidly during the PETM, and an accompanying spike in global temperatures of about 5 to 8 °C lasted for about 150,000 years.

After a close up fly by of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Valentine’s Day, Rosetta looped further away from the comet than it has been since arriving there and returned some dramatic new images.