Sep. 1, 2015

After more than a year orbiting “hand in hand”, the ESA probe has reached perihelion with Comet 67/P. Mission flight director Andrea Accomazzo is nominated scientist of the year by Nature.

At 4.03 am on 13 August (Italian time; 2.03 am GMT), Comet67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) reached perihelion, its closest point to the Sun: “only” 186 million km away, thirty times a single Astronomic Unit (the average distance between the Earth and our solar system’s “mother” star).
Rosetta and 67P arrived at the appointment punctually and together. The pair have travelled more than 750 million km in space “hand in hand” in just over a year, since the ESA probe entered the comet’s orbit on 6 August last year after a ten year “chase”.
The announcement, which had been forecast and which the scientific community had been calmly expecting for some time, came on the same day as a rather less predictable event. In fact, “Nature” magazine has decided to nominate ItalianAndrea Accomazzo - Rosetta flight mission director at the European Space Agency - for first place in their annual rankingof scientists who have made outstanding contributions during the year.
“I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't hugely proud and satisfied”, commented Accomazzo immediately after learning of the award, “although at the same time I feel a bit embarrassed about the Rosetta team. I hope my colleagues see this as a joint recognition”.

The comet's period of “maximum activity” has just started and it is already expelling 1000 kg of dust and 300 kg of water vapour per second, leaving a tail of around 120 km. For a comet, the perihelion is like a “summer solstice” on Earth: not the hottest day of the year, but the start of a longer period of more light and warmer temperatures.
“We are expecting activities to peak around mid-September, because the comet will continue to heat up even after the perihelion”, explained Accomazzo. The Italian scientist, however, reassured us that “Rosetta won't be in danger: we just have to stay a little bit farther off, flying around 300 km away from the comet”.
Philae, the lander that touched down on the surface of the comet last November and which unexpectedly woke up in mid-June, raising hopes in the scientific community by sending a considerable quantity of data, has slipped back into silent mode for more than a month - since 9 July - leaving its future uncertain.
“I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't hugely proud and satisfied”, commented Accomazzo immediately after learning of the award, “although at the same time I feel a bit embarrassed about the Rosetta team. I hope my colleagues see this as a joint recognition”.

The comet's period of “maximum activity” has just started and it is already expelling 1000 kg of dust and 300 kg of water vapour per second, leaving a tail of around 120 km. For a comet, the perihelion is like a “summer solstice” on Earth: not the hottest day of the year, but the start of a longer period of more light and warmer temperatures.
“We are expecting activities to peak around mid-September, because the comet will continue to heat up even after the perihelion”, explained Accomazzo. The Italian scientist, however, reassured us that “Rosetta won't be in danger: we just have to stay a little bit farther off, flying around 300 km away from the comet”.
Philae, the lander that touched down on the surface of the comet last November and which unexpectedly woke up in mid-June, raising hopes in the scientific community by sending a considerable quantity of data, has slipped back into silent mode for more than a month - since 9 July - leaving its future uncertain.