人類は彗星に着陸したーー私たちは、それを証明する画像を手にしている。
これは、人類史上初めて、彗星上で撮影された画像だ。
しかし、悪いニュースもある。欧州宇宙機関(ESA) によると、11月12日に彗星探査機「ロゼッタ」から発射された着陸機「フィラエ」は、彗星の表面に固定された状態ではないという。銛（もり）、アイススクリュー、制御ロケットなどの機体を表面に固定するシステムが一つも作動しなかったようだ。
着陸機がいつまでこのままの状態で耐えられるかは不明だという。
ESAは声明で、着陸機は傾いた状態(おそらく側面を底にした状態) だが、7枚の画像と1枚のパノラマ画像の受信に成功し、記者会見で発表する予定だと述べた。
ESAは「CIVAカメラが撮影したこれら最初の2枚の画像を見ればわかるように、ロゼッタの着陸機フィラエは、67P/チュリュモフ・ゲラシメンコ彗星の表面に無事着陸しました。手前に着陸機の3本足のうちの1つが写っているのがわかると思います。画像は2枚の画像を繋ぎ合わせたものです。CIVAカメラからのフルパノラマ写真は、13時(GMT) に予定している記者会見で発表します」と述べた。
画像内の影の量に関して懸念を示した科学者もいる。
@Philae2014pic.twitter.com/TBHrz5KOfeから今回送られてきた画像は本当に、本当にすごい。でも、影の量がちょっと心配。
私が影を嫌う理由：ソーラーパネルで充電するのに邪魔だし、機体稼働温度が低くなってしまう。これらについては、後で聞いてみたいと思います。
ロゼッタプロジェクトの科学者マット・テイラーによれば、着陸機は「安定している」そうだ。欧州宇宙機関は、しっかり電波を受信しているし、科学的なデータの受信も問題ないと彼は述べた。
彼はまた、「データが何を意味しているのか解析する作業で忙しい。それから、着陸機が彗星表面のどのあたりにあるのかも調べなければいけません」と述べている。
フィラエは12日、宇宙空間を10年の間に40億マイル旅した後、科学史に残る偉業の一つと讃えられる中、彗星に降り立った。
科学者は、今回の探査で太陽系の起源について新たな知見が得られることを期待している。
彗星探査機ロゼッタ：ビジュアルで辿る歴史
はじめは、ひとつの模型に過ぎなかった。(01 of18)
2003年に欧州宇宙機関科学長官であるロジャー・ボネット教授と一緒に写る模型。 (credit:Matthew Fearn/PA Archive)
そして実物を作った。(02 of18)
2004年オランダにある巨大宇宙シミュレーター内で、探査機ロゼッタの手前で実験する保温ブランケットを着用した作業員。 (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
発射準備(03 of18)
2004年2月25日水曜日。フランス領ギアナのクールー宇宙センターで発射台に立つ探査機ロゼッタを乗せた欧州宇宙機関のアリアン5ロケット。 (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
地球を後にして(04 of18)
2008年9月3日に回収された、欧州宇宙機関(ESA) が配布した画像上には、ESAの探査機ロゼッタが地球を後にする様子がアーティストによって表現されている。 (credit:Getty Images)
探査機のターゲット(05 of18)
この圧倒されるような画像は、彗星の大きさをわかりやすく表したものだ。ESAが立ち向かおうとしている途方もないミッションの一端をうかがい知ることができる。\n
信じられないほど大きい(06 of18)
(07 of18)
欧州宇宙機関(ESA) の探査機ロゼッタが火星を背景に飛ぶ様子を表現したアーティストの作品。67P彗星に追いつくために、重力を利用して加速するスイングバイを行う目的で木星も通過した。 (credit:Getty Images)
彗星接近...(08 of18)
(credit:APN)
(09 of18)
2014年8月に約110km離れた距離から撮影された画像。67P/チュリュモフ・ゲラシメンコ彗星がこれまでで一番はっきりと写っている。
(10 of18)
67P/チュリュモフ・ゲラシメンコ彗星の\"首\"にあたる部分の激しい活動が写し出されている。氷の昇華、彗星内部から発生するガス、宇宙空間に吐き出される塵の流れによるもの。
ロゼッタの"自撮り"(11 of18)
この二重露出写真は彗星からわずか16kmの距離で撮影されたものだ。手前にロゼッタの長さ14mにおよぶ巨大なソーラーウイングが、奥には彗星が見える。
(12 of18)
ロゼッタの広角望遠カメラ(オシリス) が67P/チュリュモフ・ゲラシメンコ彗星の\"首\"にあたる部分の活動をより詳細に捉えた画像。
着陸地点を選ぶ(13 of18)
地上に描かれたこの赤い円は、欧州宇宙機関が彗星に着陸する初の組織として歴史に名を刻む予定の場所だ。写真は、約30kmの距離から撮影されたいくつかの画像を合成したもの。
次は？(14 of18)
欧州宇宙機関から提供されたこの画像は、ロゼッタから67P/チュリュモフ・ゲラシメンコ彗星に向けて発射される着陸機フィラエの様子をアーティストが表現したもの。 (credit:AP)
どうやって着陸する？(15 of18)
制御ロケットを使ってフィラエを彗星の表面に近づけた後、小さな銛を放ち、即座にフットスクリューで着陸機を固定する。つまりこの小さな着陸機を\"錨\"を下ろして固定するのだ。
彗星を探索する(16 of18)
彗星上のフィラエを表現した日付不明のアーティスト作品。 (credit:Getty Images)
私たちは待っている。(17 of18)
ドイツのダルムシュタットにあるESAのコントロールルーム内で作業する職員。 (credit:AP)
(18 of18)
欧州宇宙機関(ESA) が発表したロゼッタのナビゲーションカメラが捉えた写真。67P/チュリュモフ・ゲラシメンコ彗星の首の部分の岩がごろごろした地帯。左に小さい突出部、右に大きな突出部がある。 (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
この記事はハフポストUK版に掲載されたものを翻訳しました。
PICS: Space Is Incredible
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Coronal Mass Ejection(21 of41)
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Centaurus A(22 of41)
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Aurora From Space(25 of41)
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Daybreak On Mars(26 of41)
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Saturn(27 of41)
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Jupiter(28 of41)
New red spot appears on Jupiter. (credit:M. Wong and I. de Pater (University of California, Berkeley))
Cygnus X(29 of41)
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Spiral Galaxy(30 of41)
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Horsehead Nebula(31 of41)
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Planetary Nebula(32 of41)
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Hubble Images Searchlight Beams from a Preplanetary Nebula(33 of41)
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has been at the cutting edge of research into what happens to stars like our sun at the ends of their lives. One stage that stars pass through as they run out of nuclear fuel is called the preplanetary or protoplanetary nebula stage. This Hubble image of the Egg Nebula shows one of the best views to date of this brief but dramatic phase in a star’s life
Dying Star (34 of41)
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Colossal Glow(35 of41)
Saturn’s auroras put on a dazzling display of light. Scientists first observed Saturn’s auroras in 1979. Decades later, these shimmering ribbons of light still fascinate. For one thing they’re magnificently tall, rising hundreds of miles above the planet’s poles. And unlike on Earth where bright displays fizzle after only a few hours, auroras on Saturn can shine for days. Auroras are produced when speeding particles accelerated by the sun’s energy collide with gases in a planet’s atmosphere. The gases fluoresce, emitting flashes of light at different wavelengths. Watch the video (1.usa.gov/IFW5o7) to see an edge-on view of Saturn’s northern and southern lights courtesy of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.\n
Supermoon(36 of41)
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Hubble Sees Stars and a Stripe in Celestial Fireworks(37 of41)
This image is a composite of visible (or optical), radio, and X-ray data of the full shell of the supernova remnant from SN 1006. The radio data show much of the extent that the X-ray image shows. In contrast, only a small linear filament in the northwest corner of the shell is visible in the optical data. The object has an angular size of roughly 30 arcminutes (0.5 degree, or about the size of the full moon), and a physical size of 60 light-years (18 parsecs) based on its distance of nearly 7,000 light-years. The small green box along the bright filament at the top of the image corresponds to the dimensions of the Hubble release image.
NASA's Hubble Shows Milky Way is Destined for Head-On Collision(38 of41)
This illustration shows a stage in the predicted merger between our Milky Way galaxy and the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, as it will unfold over the next several billion years. In this image, representing Earth\'s night sky in 3.75 billion years, Andromeda (left) fills the field of view and begins to distort the Milky Way with tidal pull.\n
New Supernova Remnant Light Up(39 of41)
Astronomers using NASA\'s Hubble Space Telescope are witnessing the unprecedented transition of a supernova to a supernova remnant, where light from an exploding star in a neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, reached Earth in February 1987. Named Supernova 1987A, it was the closest supernova explosion witnessed in almost 400 years.\n
Aurora Australis from Space(40 of41)
From space, the aurora is a crown of light that circles each of Earth’s poles. The IMAGE satellite captured this view of the aurora australis (southern lights) on September 11, 2005, four days after a record-setting solar flare sent plasma—an ionized gas of protons and electrons—flying towards the Earth. The ring of light that the solar storm generated over Antarctica glows green in the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, shown in this image. The IMAGE observations of the aurora are overlaid onto NASA’s satellite-based Blue Marble image. From the Earth’s surface, the ring would appear as a curtain of light shimmering across the night sky.
Daybreak at Gale Crater(41 of41)
The Curiosity rover bristles with multiple cameras and instruments, including Goddard\'s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite. By looking for evidence of water, carbon, and other important building blocks of life in the Martian soil and atmosphere, SAM will help discover whether Mars ever had the potential to support life. Curiosity will be delivered to Gale crater, a 96-mile-wide crater that contains a record of environmental changes in its sedimentary rock, in August 2012.\n
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