The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
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Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Taken at 03:59 CET on 13 November with an exposure time of 2 minutes. The field is located in the constellation Cetus and spans 10 x 10 arcmin. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe in the centre of the image while the stars appear as dots. Rosetta moves 3 arcminutes during the 2-minute exposure. Compare the movement with the image above, taken at 22:58 CET. The brightest star in the top left corner of the image has a magnitude of 12. This is the last image taken before Rosetta's closest approach to Earth, immediately afterwards its elevation fell below 18 deg which is the limit of the telescope.