--- title: Spacecraft Snaps Casual Selfie With Passing Comet description: Selfies are no longer just a human trend canonical: https://time.com/3319029/spacecraft-comet-selfie/ author: Adam Glanzman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-10T21:59:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:06:49.437Z article:section: Science og:title: Spacecraft Snaps Casual Selfie With Passing Comet og:description: Selfies are no longer just a human trend og:url: https://time.com/3319029/spacecraft-comet-selfie/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5595cbbe8bf67ce/6986a2aa810bbbc931c93596/rosetta_mission_selfie_at_comet.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rosetta_mission_selfie_at_comet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Spacecraft Snaps Casual Selfie With Passing Comet twitter:description: Selfies are no longer just a human trend twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5595cbbe8bf67ce/6986a2aa810bbbc931c93596/rosetta_mission_selfie_at_comet.png?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Spacecraft Snaps Casual Selfie With Passing Comet by [Adam Glanzman](https://time.com/author/adam-glanzman/) ## Adam Glanzman Sep 10, 2014 9:59 PM UTC  The Rosetta spacecraft snapped a ‘selfie’ with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Sept. 7, 2014\. Two images with different exposure times were combined to bring out the faint details in this very high contrast situation. The Rosetta spacecraft snapped a ‘selfie’ with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Sept. 7, 2014\. Two images with different exposure times were combined to bring out the faint details in this very high contrast situation.ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA by [Adam Glanzman](https://time.com/author/adam-glanzman/) ## Adam Glanzman Sep 10, 2014 9:59 PM UTC The [Mars Curiosity Rover](http://time.com/2913065/mars-curiosity-rover-selfie/) isn’t the only lunar explorer that knows how to take a selfie these days. The first of its kind—the Rosetta Spacecraft was designed to orbit and land on a comet in outer-space. This mission, which was launched by the European Space Agency in 2004, has finally approached the comet it was set to land on, and was at a distance of approximately 50 kilometers away from the comet when the selfie was snapped. A special camera onboard Rosetta’s [Philae Lander](http://www.esa.int/Our%5FActivities/Space%5FScience/Rosetta/The%5FRosetta%5Flander) called CIVA (Comet Nucleus Infrared and Visible Analyzer) captured the image above using multiple exposures to bring out the fine details in both the comet and spacecraft. Come November, the Rosetta Spacecraft will deploy its Philae Lander and attempt history’s first comet landing. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3319029/spacecraft-comet-selfie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3319029/spacecraft-comet-selfie/"},"headline":"Spacecraft Snaps Casual Selfie With Passing Comet","datePublished":"2014-09-10T21:59:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:06:49.437Z","description":"Selfies are no longer just a human trend","url":"https://time.com/3319029/spacecraft-comet-selfie/","keywords":["Space","NASA","space travel","esa","Comet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5595cbbe8bf67ce/6986a2aa810bbbc931c93596/rosetta_mission_selfie_at_comet.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam Glanzman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/adam-glanzman/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc5595cbbe8bf67ce/6986a2aa810bbbc931c93596/rosetta_mission_selfie_at_comet.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rosetta_mission_selfie_at_comet","caption":"The Rosetta spacecraft snapped a ‘selfie’ with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Sept. 7, 2014. Two images with different exposure times were combined to bring out the faint details in this very high contrast situation.","creditText":"ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3319029/spacecraft-comet-selfie/","name":"Spacecraft Snaps Casual Selfie With Passing Comet"}}]}] ```