First measurement of comet temperature

The European Space Agency's Rosetta cruise ship (ESA) has just conducted a temperature measurement for comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the first time a man-made procedure.

As a result, the comet surface is too hot to be covered with ice, but instead is a very dark and dusty crust, according to Space.com.

Illustration

The observation of comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko was made possible thanks to the VIRTIS infrared and thermal imaging spectrometer, which took place from July 13 to 21, when Rosetta approached the target with the above distance. 5,000 to 14,000 km.

At this distance, the device's sensor is capable of gathering infrared light emitted from the entire comet, allowing scientists to determine its surface temperature at about 70 degrees Celsius.

At that time, the comet was about 555 million kilometers away from the sun, three times the distance of the Sun - Earth, meaning that the light was only about 1/10.

In fact, the temperature of 70 degrees Celsius was about 20-30 degrees Celsius higher than previously predicted, so comets could not be covered with ice.

Also in the summer of 2014, the history of space exploration recorded a new milestone: for the first time a human device approached a comet and began to study it.