The nucleus of comet 67P/C-G as seen by Rosetta on Jan. 31(L) and Feb. 3 (R), 2015. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0. Edited by Jason Major.

And the show is on! The dramatic images above show the actively jetting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Jan. 31 and Feb. 3, imaged by Rosetta’s NavCam from a distance of about 28 km (17 miles). Each is a mosaic of four separate NavCam acquisitions, and I adjusted and tinted them in Photoshop to further enhance the jets’ visibility. (You can view the original image mosaics here and here.)

The small bright spots and flecks in the images are bits of icy debris and dust that have been ejected from the comet. In the second image you can see what looks like deflection of the jets from the comet’s lower lobe off the underside of the upper lobe as well as a shadow of the…