67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO 1 (1969 R1)
It was an extraordinary encounter in space.
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission had the opportunity in August 2014 to gravitate closer and closer to the Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The small distance gave the spacecraft the ability to capture images from within just two kilometers of the comet, which show huge contrasts in piercing detail between the smooth and dusty surfaces.
The Rosetta team captured thousands of images over the course of its mission. These images are now classified as Creative Commons and available to the public under the Rosetta archive. Here is a brief selection of images.