The Rosetta spacecraft, a satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2004, is making its final approach to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and already providing information about the composition of comets.

“Europe’s Rosetta is now the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet, a major highlight in exploring our origins,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the ESA, in a statement last week. “Discoveries can start.”

Thanks to high resolution photography from Rosetta during a flyover approximately 65 miles from the surface of the comet, scientists are buzzing about data and information gleaned from the black and white stills.

In the images, scientists are able to identify geologic features like cliffs and crags, evidence of past landslides, as well as a multi-variable terrain, temperature, and surface composition.

“We now see lots of structure and details. Lots of topography is visible on the surface. We see the nucleus and outgassing activity. The outbursts are seen with overexposed images. It’s really fantastic,” said Holger Sierks, principal investigator for Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany, during a live webcast of the Rosetta mission.

Scientists initially expected that 67P would mirror the conventional notion that comets are densely packed ice-balls, with relatively little solid surfaces. However, as the spacecraft approached the comet, scientists noted the comet had a low reflectivity, indicating the comet was not completely enshrouded in ice. Subsequent temperature examinations reveal that the celestial object is in fact much warmer than expected as well; the Rosetta’s visible, infrared and thermal imaging spectrometer (VIRTIS) indicate temperatures around balmy negative 94 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scientists speculate the higher temperatures could be due to the comet’s trajectory. As the comet returns from deep space to travel around the sun, it experiences a sharp swing in the temperature gradient. Any ice on the surface or within the faults and cracks of the comet warms and melts, releasing vapor through fissures in the ground via processes known as outgassing.

The spacecraft has also begun to utilize its Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyzer (COSIMA) to collect dust particles from the tail of 67P. Rosetta then analyzes the collected samples via on board mass spectrometer, identifying the physical and chemical nature of compounds, and classifying them as organic or inorganic.

Comets are thought to be remnants of materials from when the Solar System was formed billions of years ago. Some materials glommed together to form the planets, while other chunks escaped the planetary bonds and roam the skies as comets. Scientists believe that the analysis of comets will reveal insights into the origins of solar systems, planets, Earth, and even the genesis of life. Rosetta’s mission is to decipher the inner workings of the universe so that scientists can accurately recount its stories.