Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2019 March 30
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3D 67P
Image Credit: ESA, Rosetta, MPS, OSIRIS - Stereo Anaglyph: Philippe Lamy and The Team

Explanation: Put on your red/cyan glasses and float next to the jagged and double-lobed nucleus of Churyumov-Gerasimenko, also known as Comet 67P. The stereo anaglyph was created by combining two images from the Rosetta spacecraft's narrow angle OSIRIS camera taken on July 25, 2015 from a distance of 184 kilometres. Numerous jets are emanating from the small solar system world's active surface near its closest approach to the Sun. The larger lobe is around 4 kilometres in diameter, joined to a smaller, 2.5 kilometre diameter lobe by a narrow neck. Rosetta's mission to the comet ended in September 2016 when the spacecraft was commanded to a controlled impact with the comet's surface. Keep those 3D glasses on though. You can check out a new catalogue of nearly 1400 stereo anaglyphs created from Rosetta image data on this website.


Tomorrow's picture: 3D glasses off


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