Spacecraft Rosetta Shows Comet has Two Components
			
		
		
			ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team; MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA 
		
		Why does this comet's nucleus have two components?
The surprising discovery that 
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has a double nucleus came 
late last week as 
ESA's robotic interplanetary spacecraft 
Rosetta continued 
its approach toward the ancient comet's core.
Speculative ideas on how the double core was created include, currently, that 
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko is actually the result of the merger of two comets, that 
the comet is a 
loose pile of rubble pulled apart by 
tidal forces, 
that ice evaporation on the comet has been asymmetric, 
or that the comet has undergone some sort of explosive event.
Pictured above,
 the comet's unusual 5-km sized comet nucleus is seen rotating over the 
course of a few hours, with each frame taken 20-minutes apart.
Better images -- and hopefully more refined theories -- are expected as 
Rosetta 
is on track to enter orbit around 
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko's nucleus early next month, 
and by the end of the year, if possible, 
land a probe on it.