1 day / second
0.5 AU
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
Comet
A duck-shaped comet roughly 4.3km long that became famous as the target of ESA's Rosetta mission, which tracked its activity and landed a probe on its surface during its 2014-2016 approach to the Sun.
Key Facts
learn more | Wikipedia |
mass | 1.0000e+13 kg |
radius | 2 km |
hill radius | 215.087 km |
semi-major axis | 3.457 AU |
eccentricity | 0.65 |
inclination | 3.872º |
longitude of the ascending node | 36.33º |
argument of periapsis | 22.15º |
orbital period | 6.428 years |
sidereal rotation period | 12.4 hours |
axial tilt | 52º |
discovery date | October 22, 1969 |
discovered by | Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko |
discovery location | Almaty |
name origins | Named after its discoverers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko |
dimensions | 3.4 km diameter |
albedo | 0.06 |
density | 0.533 g/cm³ |
Gallery
Spacecraft Visits
Rosetta
Orbiter
Launched in 2004, entered orbit in 2014
Rosetta became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet when it reached 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014, studying the comet for two years and deploying the Philae lander before intentionally crash-landing on its surface in September 2016.
