Scientists Finally Retrieved A Space Probe's Astonishing Last Photo

By 2017, nearly a year had passed since the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft crash-landed on the comet it had taken a decade to reach. Since then, scientists have continued their painstaking work of combing through the reams of imaging data transmitted by the probe. Much to their surprise, they discovered an eerie photo they’ve never could've suspected.

OSIRIS

Rosetta had previously been fitted with the highly sophisticated camera OSIRIS. The German-made device was equipped with both a wide-angle and a narrow-angle lens capable of producing high-definition images, meaning it was able to take some 100,000 shots during Rosetta’s 12-year mission.

A beautiful subject

Of that staggering tally, around one-fifth of the images were captured as Rosetta made its way through space towards Comet 67P. Other photos taken during the journey to 67P included some of Mars and of a couple of asteroids that Rosetta passed on its trajectory.

Working the camera

Even as Rosetta neared the end of its mission, the camera shutter kept clicking. And although some of the photographs suffered from an unexpected data corruption caused by a break in transmission, researchers were nevertheless able to interpret this information. The process then led the team to some quite astonishing shots of space – including the very last one that OSIRIS was able to take.

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

But what of the comet that Rosetta was studying? Well, its full name is 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, although for simplicity’s sake we’ll just call it 67P. And, in case you were wondering, the last part of that moniker honors the two Soviet astronomers who originally discovered the comet in 1969.