More spectacular images from Comet 67P released

Rosetta spacecraft continues orbiting the comet

Most of our astronomy attention recently has been about Pluto, following the New Horizons flyby, but remember that the Rosetta spacecraft is still orbiting Comet 67P and sending back a wealth of images and data.

There is such a tremendous amount of information coming back that we're still receiving and processing material sent back last fall (and the same will be true with New Horizons -- it'll be sending back images and data all the way into next year).

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Recently, the European Space Agency released this awesome image (see above) of Comet 67P, taken on June 21, 2015 from a distance of 110 miles away.

What a shot! This orientation shows the smaller comet lobe to the top left, and the larger lobe to the bottom right. The image was processed to enhance the comet's activity, which is evident all around the nucleus but appears especially dramatic in the top part of the image.

As 67P continues travelling closer to the sun, this activity will steadily increase, and eventually form the familiar tail that we see with comets. Rosetta will continue orbiting 67P, and send back more data and images as this process unfolds right before our eyes.

Finally, the European Space Agency has released 541 new images taken by Rosetta during the period from Nov. 22, 2014 to Dec. 19, 2014 -- when it was less than twenty miles from 67P! Here are some of those images, and you can see more here.