Kepler gets the 'big picture' of comet 67P read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1204-kepler-gets-the-big-picture-of-comet-67p

NASA released a “big picture” view of the comet. The images, captured over a nearly 30-hour period between Sept. 17 and Sept. 18 — just days before Rosetta crash-landed on the comet. 

The European Space Agency concluded its Rosetta mission and the study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. During the final month of the mission, NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft had a unique opportunity to provide a "big picture" view of the comet as it was unobservable from Earth.

Ground-based telescopes could not see comet 67P, because the comet's orbit placed it in the sky during daylight hours.

[Image Source: NASA ]

“From the distant vantage point of Kepler, the spacecraft could observe the comet's core and tail. The long-range global view of Kepler complements the close-in view of the Rosetta spacecraft, providing context for the high-resolution investigation Rosetta performed as it descended closer and closer to the comet,” NASA said in a statement.

Analysis of the Kepler data would also help scientists determine the amount of mass 67P is losing each day during its 6.5-year-long orbit around the sun.As a comet travels through space, it sheds a tail of gas and dust.

 

Source: NASA