Photos: Europe's Rosetta Comet Mission in Pictures

Candidate Philae Landing Site A

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

Candidate site A for Philae lander lies on the larger lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, although in good view of the smaller lobe. Image released Aug. 25, 2014.

Candidate Philae Landing Site B

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

Candidate site B for Philae lander sits within the crater-like structure on the smaller lobe. This site could be relatively safe for landing with flat terrain, but illumination conditions may be less than optimal. Image released Aug. 25, 2014.

Candidate Philae Landing Site C

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

Candidate site C for Philae lander lies on the larger lobe of the comet. This area offers a variety of surface features. Image released Aug. 25, 2014.

Candidate Philae Landing Site I

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

Candidate site I for Philae lander lies on the smaller lobe of the comet. It is a flatter area, and might contain some fresh material. Image released Aug. 25, 2014.

Candidate Philae Landing Site J

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

Candidate site J for Philae lander sits on the smaller lobe of the comet. Like site I, this site also promises interesting surface features with better illumination. It does present advantages for the CONSERT experiment as compared with I. Image released August 25. 2014.

Comet 67P on Aug. 3, 2014

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

After a decade in space and a 4 billion mile journey, Europe's Rosetta spacecraft has arrived at its target: Comet 67P/ Churyumov–Gerasimenko. See amazing photos from the epic comet rendezvous mission. Shown here: ESA's Rosetta probe snapped this image of its target, Comet 67P on Aug. 3, 2014 from a distance of 177 miles (285 kilometers). Read the Full Story Here.

Comet 67P from 52 Miles

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Rosetta spacecraft's navigation camera (NAVCAM) obtained this image of comet 67P/C-G on August 7, 2014, at a distance of about 52 miles (83 km).

Comet 67P from 50 Miles

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Rosetta spacecraft's navigation camera (NAVCAM) obtained this image of comet 67P/C-G on August 8, 2014, at a distance of about 50 miles (81 km).

Comet 67P from 62 Miles

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Rosetta spacecraft's navigation camera (NAVCAM) obtained this image of comet 67P/C-G on August 9, 2014, at a distance of about 62 miles (99 km).

Comet 67P from 68 Miles

ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM

Rosetta spacecraft's navigation camera (NAVCAM) obtained this image of comet 67P/C-G on August 10, 2014, at a distance of about 68 miles (110 km).

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.