Try my new “ROSETTA NOW!” page:
It displays a synthetic view of comet 67/P Â Churyumov – Gerasimenko from the ESA Rosetta orbiter position at the current date and time. It uses my digital shapemodel rendered with a timestep of 10 minutes. A few areas are flat due to lack of data. The sun is finally starting to shine on those areas and Rosetta is currently in an orbit that makes observations possible…
Really great achievement Mattias !
Congrats !
I wonder how you are able to keep track of Rosetta’s position relative to 67P ; does ESA release this data ?
The rosetta mission makes it’s SPICE kernels avalable to the public. They contain data that describe the position orientation and speed of both the spacecraft its instruments and its target bodies.
You can learn about the comprehensive SPICE system here:
http://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/naif/
And you can download rosetta kernels here:
http://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/spice/repository-browser
And if you like you can use this online form to get actual values from the kernels:
I used the Spice library for C and wrote a small program that feeds me the data I need.
Mattias, I enjoy watching the realtime view once or twice a day. Thank you for this.
A comment: Your current view (24 April 9:40 UTC) is similar to the angle seen in “Cometwatch 14 March 6 hours later”. But there seems to be a lot more shadow in your view than in the 14 March picture.
Kamal
I noticed in this frame taken on 2O15 MAY 2 at 2O:1O UTC
from 125.51km that the “dark side” is displayed .
The dark side is “well” illuminated .
I don’t know if this display corresponds with Rosetta’s ability right now to see the “dark side ” ?
The seasons are changing on the comet and we are finally getting some sun reaching over the edge. As far as I can tell my simulation is correct. It matches well with the navcams released just days ago.
I can’t wait to see some of the navcam images taken these last few days. The glimpses of the terrain we have seen so far is different from the stuff on the “lit” side.
Alien landscapes.
The model really looks hideous from this angle with the lack of data showing as ugly flat patches.
Hopefully there will be images released soon that give me the coverage needed so that I can build something a little less horrible. 🙂
Mattias,
If you could mark the approximate location of Philae on your pictures when it is visible from Rosetta, that would interest many people.
I used your past images to look at 13 June 20:30 UTC and saw that Rosetta was almost at the zenith above Philae then. It is difficult for me to figure out, but perhaps it isn’t difficult for you to answer this question with the model: when was Rosetta around the zenith above Philae before that date and time? Then one can perhaps confirm that Philae was not awake then.
Regards and thanks,
Kamal
I like your blog.I enjoyed reading your blog.It was amazing.Thanks a lot.