A Dust Jet from the Surface of Comet 67P
Where do comet tails come from?
There are no obvious places on the
nuclei of comets from which the
jets that create
comet tails emanate.
In 2016, though, ESA's
Rosetta spacecraft not only imaged a
jet emerging from
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but flew right through it.
Featured is a telling picture showing a
bright plume emerging from a small circular dip bounded on one side by a 10-meter high wall.
Analyses of Rosetta data show that the jet was composed of both dust and water-ice.
The rugged but otherwise unremarkable terrain indicates that
something likely happened far under the porous surface to create the plume.
This image
was taken about two months before
Rosetta's mission ended
with a controlled impact onto Comet 67P's surface.