UPDATED IMAGE / MANKIND IS ABOUT TO ORBIT THEN LAND ON A COMET

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was imaged on 14 July 2014 by OSIRIS, Rosetta's scientific imaging system, from a distance of approximately 12 000 km. The image suggests that the comet may consist of two parts: one segment seems to be rather elongated, while the other appears more bulbous.

 Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

UPDATE: Rosetta's Comet From 177 Miles

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on August 3, 2014, from a distance of 177 miles (285 kilometers). The image resolution is 17 feet (5.3 meters) per pixel.

Image Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

UPDATE FROM NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/content/rosettas-comet-from-177-miles/#.U-OoSYBdWmA

EURO MISSION ON TARGET--Remarkable if one really thinks about the fact that mankind is about to rendezvous a spacecraft with a comet in outer space on August 6, 2014.  The mission is called Rosetta and as it orbits the comet (as the comet orbits the sun) will send down a lander called Philae in November 2014.

As of late July, 2014, images sent back to earth of the encounter with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko are appearing on the Internet from European Space Agency sources:

http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/

Those amazing images show the comet may be a contact binary or basically speeding around the cosmos in two parts.  To stretch a metaphor, this imagery is like having a camera on the beach when Columbus made landfall in the West Indies in 1492.

Kudos to all involved.  It is a truly remarkable accomplishment.

Science@NASA blog has an update: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/17jul_rosetta/