I saw this recently on Space – Rosetta’s ‘rubber ducky’ comet makes closest approach to Earth, will disappear for 200 years. https://www.space.com/rosetta-comet67p-close-pass-earth Slightly longer article, but here’s what I considered the first por.tion of the article. I thought it was a good Space Saturday post.
By Tereza Pultarova November 12, 2021
Comet 67P was thrust into the media spotlight in 2014 after the arrival of Europe’s Rosetta mission and its companion, the Philae lander.
Comet 67P, which famously hosted the first-ever cometary lander in 2014, made its closest approach to Earth on Friday (Nov. 12). The comet, which is now bright enough to observe with amateur telescopes, will not come back to our planet for the next 200 years.
During its closest pass at 7:50 pm EST (0050 GMT), Comet 67P was at a distance of 39 million miles (62.8 million kilometres) from our planet, within the orbit of Mars, according to Astronomy Now.
Nine days earlier, the comet passed perihelion, the closest point to the sun in its elliptical orbit around our star. At this point, the comet was about 112 million miles (181 million km) from the sun.
–snip–
Previous Space Saturdays: https://upsdownsfamilyhistory.wordpress.com/tag/space-saturdays/
5,400th post
Ups Downs Family History 