This object is among the most prominent comets in astronomy history. No, it is not the first comet who was confirmed by Edmond Halley to be periodically and predictably re-appearing. It was neither the one with the most phantastic show in recent past like Comet Hale-Bopp. Out of obvious reasons it was not Shoemaker-Levy 9, which crashed into Jupiter in July 1994 after having broken to pieces. It is 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which was visited by the first comet probe which deployed a lander.

The mission was Rosetta and the lander was Philae. It is a pity that the lander did not succeed to anchor in the icy-dusty surface of the comet resulting in an uncontrolled landing in a dark gap not allowing the batteries to recharge. However, the mission may be considered a remakable milestone in comet exploration science...

I used my 400 mm refractor at Schrick to capture the comet along three hours. The full extent of the tail is shown in the inverted close up.

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