A High Cliff on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
This high cliff occurs not on a planet, not on a moon, but on a comet.
It was discovered to be part of the dark nucleus of
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko (CG) by
Rosetta,
a robotic spacecraft
launched by
ESA that rendezvoused with the Sun-orbiting comet in 2014.
The ragged cliff, as featured
here, was imaged by Rosetta in 2014.
Although towering about one kilometer high, the low surface gravity of
Comet CG would likely make it an
accessible climb -- and even a
jump from the
cliff survivable.
At the foot of the cliff is relatively smooth terrain dotted with
boulders as large as 20 meters across.
Data from
Rosetta indicates that the ice in
Comet CG
has a significantly different
deuterium
fraction -- and hence likely a different origin -- than the water in Earth's oceans.
Rosetta ended its mission with a controlled impact onto Comet CG in 2016.
Comet CG has just completed
another close approach to Earth and
remains visible through a small telescope.