Bumps, cliffs, basins, oh my: Rosetta so far

Magnificent blue hue of water off Hong Kong also disturbing

been named for Egyptian deities like Ma’at, Imhotep, Aten and Ash.

At two locations scientists found terrains covered in up to 3 to 15 feet of dust. In another region they found fractures in the comet’s surface and circular depressions with steep walls. In still another region, on the head of the nucleus, there is a large shallow, circular depression that is more than half a mile in diameter. ‘Goose bumps’

Scattered around the nucleus, the scientists observed a system of what they call pits — quasi-circular depressions that are 150 to 1,000 feet in diameter and 30 to 700 feet in depth. There is evidence that there are some gas jets rising up from these pits.

On the steep slopes of the nucleus, they spotted a never before seen feature on a comet — small bumps 9 feet in diameter that have been given the colloquial name “goose bumps.”

Weissman said these similar sized boulders may be the building blocks of the comet.

“The images of the goose-bump terrain in the pits are suggesting that the nucleus is indeed a rubble pile but all the ‘rubble’ is about the same size,” he said. “This is consistent with current ideas about how accretion of comets worked in the early solar system.

“The picture is starting to come together, which is a very exciting result from the mission,” he added.

Kin Cheung / Associated Press This long-exposure photo along the seashore in Hong Kong captures the glow that indicates a harmful algal bloom caused by Also known as Sea Sparkle, the luminescence is triggered by the runoff of farm pollution.