New images recently captured by the European Space Agency (ESA)’s Rosetta spacecraft reveal a region of jet activity at the “neck” region of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Rosetta captured a montage of four images on Sept. 26 when the spacecraft was approximately 16 miles (26 kilometers) from the center of the comet. According to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: “The overlapping and slightly dissimilar angles of the four images that compose the montage are a result of the combined effect of the comet rotating between the first and last images taken in the sequence (about 10 degrees over 20 minutes), and the spacecraft movement during that same time.”

The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory also reports that the montage shows several discreet jets blasting from the comet’s neck. These jets, which arose from several different locations on the neck region, are a product of ices sublimating and the escape of gases from inside the comet.

“As comets race around the solar system, their orbits take them close to the sun where increased solar heating triggers ices locked in their mass to release vapor,” said Ian O’Neill of Discovery News. “In space, frozen water and other volatiles cannot melt into a liquid, so when ices heat up, they turn straight from a solid (ice) to a gas without passing through the liquid phase. This process is known as sublimation.”

According to Discovery News, future plans for the Rosetta spacecraft include releasing its Philae robotic lander on the comet’s surface on Nov. 12 to better understand the comet. “As the mission continues to study the comet, it is gaining an insight to origins of our sun and its planetary system, potentially even helping us better understand where the chemical building blocks for life originated,” said O’Neill.