A GIF using images captured by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe shows what appears to be heavy snow falling on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
A GIF using images captured by the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe shows what appears to be heavy snow falling on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Twitter user @landru79 posted the GIF, and it's being widely shared on social media. According to New Scientist, "Much of this apparent 'snow' wouldn't actually be visible if you were standing on 67P's surface." "It is made of cosmic rays – charged subatomic particles that flit across the universe. As they hit the camera's sensors, they register as streaks of light," the publication further noted. Gizmodo reports that the images were captured by the Rosetta probe in June of 2016. The spacecraft was launched in 2004 and reached its target in 2014. Over the roughly 2-year mission that followed, it sent a wealth of data back to Earth.
A GIF using images captured by the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe shows what appears to be heavy snow falling on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Twitter user @landru79 posted the GIF, and it's being widely shared on social media. According to New Scientist, "Much of this apparent 'snow' wouldn't actually be visible if you were standing on 67P's surface." "It is made of cosmic rays – charged subatomic particles that flit across the universe. As they hit the camera's sensors, they register as streaks of light," the publication further noted. Gizmodo reports that the images were captured by the Rosetta probe in June of 2016. The spacecraft was launched in 2004 and reached its target in 2014. Over the roughly 2-year mission that followed, it sent a wealth of data back to Earth.
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