Scientists are excited at new data from comet 67P sent by the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe that shows the comet has become surprisingly active as it zips closer to the Sun.

The probe released its lander, Philae, on the comet last November, the first time a spacecraft touched down on a comet's surface.

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Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is now manifesting more signs of activity as it travels at 47,000 miles per hour towards the Sun. The comet has an odd duck shape and is mainly composed of rock and ice that will release jets of gas and water vapor from its core as sunlight heats it up.

When comets reach perihelion, they transform into their most active state. This means this is the closest approach to the Sun during their orbit.

The comet is now showing more signs of waking-up as jets are being released from everywhere in the comet, suggesting its active state, according to Dennis Bodewits from the University of Maryland, lead author of the new findings from the Rosetta mission and comet 67P.

To date, comet 67P is the most active comet ever recorded during perihelion.

The Philae lander bounced off the comet's surface after it landed Nov. 12. Despite this unexpected hard landing, Philae managed to send important stream of data back to ESA.

Philae's exact location remains unknown since it was flung away from its intended landing site. Scientists think Philae rests now under a deep shadow of a cliff. The probe is in hibernation mode.

The team hopes to revive the lander when sunlight hit its solar panels as it travels closer the Sun.

Rosetta's cameras (the Osiris twin camera package) has taken photos of the comet's unique terrain features and its surface, including dunes and rippled structures that seem to be made out of brittle material. Scientists now believe comet 67P's core or nucleus could be porous or even fluffy.

They also discovered its "coma", which shrouds the nucleus and is made from gas and dust, was less uniform than expected. This affects this gassy activity from the comet's two lobes. Findings also show the surface possess simple microbial compounds but with the most minimal amount of ice water, making the comet dehydrated.

These findings were published in the journal, Science.

TagsRosetta Reveals Unexpected Activity from Comet 67P, rosetta probe, comet 67P, unexpected activity rosetta comet 67P images terrain, ESA