article_snippet: As well as the craft's shadow, an 'alien' glow is seen reflected onto the comet, which scientists believe is caused by a trick of the light from the sun.
article_snippet: an 'alien' glow causes the shadow to be fuzzy and somewhat larger than Rosetta, measuring approximately 65ft by 165 ft (20 by 50 metres).
article_snippet: If the sun were farther away, the shadow would be sharp and almost exactly the same size as Rosetta, which is around 2 x 32 metres.
article_snippet: However, even at 215 million miles (347 million km) from 67P/C-G on 14 February, the sun appeared as a disc about 0.2 degrees across.
article_snippet: This is about 2.3 times smaller than on Earth - resulting in a fuzzy 'penumbra' around the spacecraft's shadow.
article_snippet: With Rosetta just four miles (6km) above the surface, the penumbra effect adds roughly 65ft (20 metres) to the spacecraft's dimensions, which .
article_snippet: This graphic shows the difference between how a sharp shadow is generated by a point source (left) and a fuzzy shadow by a diffuse source (right)
article_snippet: If you were standing on the surface with Rosetta high above you, there would be no place in the shadow where the entire sun would be blocked from view.
highlights_snippet: The halo is believed to be created by a trick of light from the sun .
  
highlights_snippet: Sun over comet appears 2.3 smaller than on Earth, causing the effect .
  