

Comet at 1000 km - ColinWright
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/08/02/comet-at-1000-km/

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michael_h
I expected it to be smoother. I guess that makes sense, though, hurling
through a vacuum isn't going to cause mechanical erosion.

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codezero
Some are smoother. The population is pretty diverse but mostly since solar
radiation causes outgassing over the surface, it's likely to get shaken up a
bit especially as bits pop off.

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omarchowdhury
Damn, that's not as pretty as they look in the sky. What gives?

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drcube
Yeah, I wonder why the camera didn't catch the comet's tail.

There's a possibility all the volatile components have already been burned off
by the solar wind (which is what causes the tail). That would make this either
a very old, or very small comet. Or one that wasn't that icy to begin with.

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DanielleMolloy
The comet is currently not close enough to the sun to have the activity
leading to a large, visible tail (this would be in conflict with the mission's
aims). However, emissions have been detected since April 2014.

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codezero
There's no set distance from the Sun for where a comet tail will develop, as
it depends a lot on the size of the comet and the magnitude of the solar wind
at the particular position.

This comet's aphelion is around Jupiter, and comets have been observed with
tails (from telescopes, not naked eyes! :P) at that distance. This comet
probably is too small though.

See my other comment for a better explanation of why the tail wouldn't be
visible in this image.

Here's a cool image of Comet Humason that was taken while it was near Jupiter
in the 60s, it's pretty epic, one of the most awesome comets I came across in
my studies, this image is from an obscure journal that I can't find now, but I
found the image on a forum :P

[http://foro.tiempo.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12940...](http://foro.tiempo.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=129406.0;attach=160470;image)

