An Astrophotographer Noticed a Chunk of Ice Orbiting Comet 67P in Rosetta’s Photos

"Churymoon," comet 67P/Churymuov-Gerasimenko's tiny, icy companion. It was brought to light by Spanish astrophotographer Jacint Roger who was working with the archive of images from the ESA's Rosetta mission. Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS/OSIRIS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA/J. Roger (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission spent two years at the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At the end of September 2016, its mission was ended when the spacecraft was sent on a collision course into the comet. During its time at comet 67P, it captured a vast amount of images.

The ESA made all those images freely available at their Rosetta website, and now an astro-photographer working with those images has found something interesting: a chunk of ice travelling through space with 67P.

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