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Astronomy and spaceflightSun 25 Oct 2026 · 10 of 10

Rosetta selfie highlighted on APOD; details of Philae’s final pre‑separation image

Unsupported claims · 10/12 supported1 cited · 1 min read

nasa.gov reports that the Astronomy Picture of the Day on 2026‑10‑24 featured a selfie taken by the Rosetta spacecraft on 7 October 2014 . nasa.gov reports that at the time of the selfie Rosetta was about 472 million kilometres from Earth and roughly 16 kilometres from the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov‑Gerasimenko . nasa.gov reports that the image shows dust and gas streaming from the comet’s double‑lobed nucleus and sunlight glinting off one of Rosetta’s 14‑metre solar arrays, captured using two combined exposures from the CIVA camera on the still‑attached Philae lander . nasa.gov reports that the chosen primary landing site for Philae was on the visible hemisphere of the smaller lobe of the nucleus and that this was the last picture taken by Philae’s camera before the lander separated from Rosetta on 12 November 2014 . nasa.gov reports that after separation Philae captured another image looking back toward Rosetta and began its descent to the comet’s nucleus .

Why it matters. nasa.gov reports that the post‑separation image marked the start of Philae’s descent to the comet’s nucleus, delivering the mission’s first close‑up observations of the surface .

Earlier on Astronomy and spaceflight

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