Rosetta’s selfie returns to the spotlight: a 2014 photo, not a new mission

The photograph’s date matters

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day for October 24 revisits a Rosetta selfie taken on October 7, 2014. The camera was on Philae, the lander still attached to the spacecraft. This is not a newly transmitted photograph or an announcement of another close approach.

What sits beyond the solar panel

ESA places the spacecraft about 16 kilometers from the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, or roughly 18 kilometers from its center. One of Rosetta’s solar panels stretches across the frame.

The scene combines a short exposure with a longer one. That captures very bright and dark areas together: it is not a blend of separate missions or an artist’s prediction of what the encounter might look like.

Pause before sharing

Seeing a space image on a homepage does not tell us when it was captured. Here, three dates matter: the photograph itself, ESA’s original publication on October 14, 2014, and NASA’s selection today.

Checking the caption before forwarding a striking image is a useful habit. The credit, instrument and date help distinguish a new observation from an older photograph that still deserves attention.

Another image worth understanding: Hubble’s gravitational lens