This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way,

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This image may not be used by or to promote the arms, nuclear power or tobacco industries or any religious organisation, or in any discriminatory way, or to imply the endorsement by ESO of any product, service or activity Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (trail of light at centre). This comet is the destination of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft. Rosetta was launched in March 2004 on a 10 year mission to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will rendezvous with the comet in mid 2014. It is the first mission designed to land on a comet. Rosetta is carrying instruments to map the comet's surface and probe its core, as well as the Philae lander. Philae will perform detailed analysis of the comet's surface, giving an insight into conditions during the formation of the solar system some billion years ago. Image obtained by the SUSI-2 camera on the New Technology Telescope on the 26th February 2004.

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Photo credit: © EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 2004, 21st, 26, 67p, 67p/churyumov-gerasimenko, astronomical, astronomy, camera, century, churyumov, churyumov-gerasimenko, comet, cometary, february, formation, gerasimenko, nucleus, orange, planetary, rosetta, science, solar, space, susi-2, system, target, technology, telescope