Month: August 2014

Goodreads Giveaway

There’s a Goodreads promo on for THE NIGHT OF THE COMET that somehow slipped my notice until now. Enter before Aug. 25 to win one of 15 free copies of the book.

More here at Goodreads.

The Comet Chaser Catches Its Comet

The big news in space today is that the European Space Agency’s “Rosetta” spacecraft has, after a ten-year journey, finally rendezvoused with its target, Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenk.

Here’s a picture of Comet C-G up close:

07comet-cnd-master675

I mentioned the comet chaser in a post back in January. The New York Times has a front-page article about the Rosetta mission in the paper today.

The Times writes:

“From a distance, the blurry blob initially looked somewhat like a rubber duck. As the details came into focus, it began to bear a closer resemblance to a knob of ginger flying through space.”

The comet’s far enough from the sun (330 million miles) that it’s still just a hunk of ice and rock. As it gets closer, the sun will heat the comet and it will begin to acquire the familiar coma and tail of a comet.

The Rosetta spacecraft will accompany Comet C-G for a year, flying right alongside it as it circles the sun.