image: VIRTIS is the Visible, InfraRed and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer of the ROSETTA mission. VIRTIS covers a wide spectral range, which extends from the UV to the thermal infrared (0.25-5.0 µm). VIRTIS provides quantitative information on the composition of the solid materials on the nucleus as well as map their distribution on the surface. In addition, it provides quantitative information on the composition and spatial distribution of the gases and molecules present in the cometary coma. The instrument, led by the Italian PI Fabrizio Capaccioni, is composed of two independent channels: the Mapping Spectrometer built in Italy (by INAF-IAPS, Rome; Selex-ES, Campi Bisenzio and Italian Space Agency, Rome) and the High Resolution Spectrometer built in France (Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique of the Observatoire de Paris, CNES). The instrument electronics have been provided by the Institut für Planetenforschung - DLR. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Jan. 23, 2015, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by F. Capaccioni at Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) in Rome, Italy, and colleagues was titled, "The organic-rich surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen by VIRTIS/Rosetta." view more
Credit: [Credit: ESA/Rosetta/VIRTIS/INAF-IAPS/OBS DE PARIS-LESIA/DLR]