REAL LIFE NEWS: A LANDSLIDE ON A COMET
by Hazed
The Rosetta space probe orbited the comet 67P for two years, taking a huge number of photos, and scientists are still pouring over the images and making astonishing discoveries. Now they have seen pictures showing a landslide on the comet.
The images show a 439-foot cliff, called Aswan, crumbling away, revealing the spotless icy interior under the surface of the comet. This is the first time a landslide has ever been seen on a comet.
Close-up pictures were taken in September 2014, and in them you can see a wide crack along the cliff edge, 229-foot long and 3.28-foot wide. Then in July 2015, pictures show a large fracture in the Aswan cliff, as well as many boulders around the base of the cliff. Take a look at the pictures at the source link below.
The landslide revealed a layer of ice, estimated to be at least six times brighter than the rest of the comet’s surface. By December, the brightness had faded to half its previous level as the water-ice vaporised, and by August 2016 – a year after the landslide – most of the new cliff edge had faded back to its original sooty colour.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/22/landslide_spotted_comet_67p/
