First Color Photo Of A Comet
OSIRIS camera of the Rozetta spacecraft made the first color picture of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
The image was made by a camera in the Rozetta spacecraft in the beginning of November before lander module Philae reached the surface of the comet, says Sploid. The OSIRIS camera was developed exclusively for space photography and makes only black and white images, but can do photography using color channels. A full-color photo can be created by combining three separate single-color exposures (in red, green and blue spectrum) into one image. The same principle was used by James Maxwell in 1861 to create first color photo in the history.
The final image is blurred because the photo was shot while the comet was moving. High resolution photos will be presented on December 18th at the American Geophysical Union’s 2014 Fall Meeting.
