Europe's Rosetta spacecraft flew by Earth last week, receiving a gravity assist and capturing rare images of the planet's dynamic atmosphere and city lights across North America.

See Spaceflight Now's full story on the objectives of Rosetta's flyby.

Rosetta's OSIRIS camera captured this picture of a crescent Earth at a range of 217,000 miles at 2228 GMT on Nov. 12. This image shows parts of South America and Antarctica. Credit: ESA Copyright 2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

This image of an anticyclone over the South Pacific was taken Nov. 13 at 0548 GMT by Rosetta's OSIRIS narrow-angle camera. Credit: ESA Copyright 2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

Cities in North America are shown in this image taken at 0444 GMT on Nov. 13. Lights from Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Atlanta, Detroit and other cities are visible. Cities such as New York and Washington are blanketed under cloud cover. Credit: ESA Copyright 2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

As Rosetta flew away from Earth, the probe's navigation camera took this picture the Americas at 1403 GMT on Nov. 13. The Gulf of Mexico is near the center of the image, which also shows the swirling remnants of Hurricane Ida off the east coast of the United States. Credit: ESA