Double-take on Icy Solar System Worlds

Two recent Gemini programs explore very different bodies from the early Solar System. One, observed at Gemini North and led by Karen Meech (University of Hawaii) claims to have provided astronomers with the first look at the surface of distant Oort Cloud objects (work presented at the recent American Astronomical Society Division of Planetary Sciences meeting). The other, executed at Gemini South and led by Matthew Knight (Lowell Observatory) supported ESA's Rosetta mission by observing the comet 67P only hours before the Philae probe landed on the comet¹s surface. The Gemini website has more information about comet 67P and the Oort Cloud object.