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

We speak with Matt Taylor, Rosetta Project Scientist, at the European Space Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, about the plan to crash land the spacecraft on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

Bright Comet 46P/Wirtanen skims past Earth just 30 lunar distances away on 16 December when it could become a diffuse magnitude +3 object almost a degree wide located between the Pleiades and Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus. Grab your binoculars and find a dark sky location well away from streetlights to enjoy this Christmas comet before the glow from a waxing Moon gets too bright from 17 December.

Europe’s Philae lander transmitted all its stored science data from the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko before falling silent as battery power failed.