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Lost SPACECRAFT believed FOUND ON COMET

Jump for joy! There's a Philae landing GIF

The European Space Agency has released an image it says hints at where the Philae lander dispatched to Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko came to rest.

Comet-watchers will recall that Philae was carried to 67P by the Rosetta spacecraft, which dropped the washing-machine-sized lander last November 12th. All went well until the lander bounced, before landing in a shady spot where its solar panels were unable to collect enough energy to keep it operating and doing science.

A photo depicting Philae around Comet 67P

Philae spotted around Comet 67P. Bigger version here.
Images: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

The ESA describes the photo as probably depicting the probe “above the rim of the large depression – named Hatmehit – on the comet’s small lobe.” The image has “been used to guide subsequent lander search efforts, and provides the basis for trajectory reconstructions.”

Those efforts have resulted in the release of the image below, which the ESA says depicts an area where Philae is suspected to have landed. The bad news is that at this scale the probe would be occupy about three pixels, and as the region is strewn with boulders there are lots of objects one could mistake for Philae

Philae search area

Philae is here. Somewhere.

The ESA's also released a jolly GIF of Philae gyrating gently through space in the general direction of Comet 67P*.

Philae GIF

A jolly GIF of Philae gyrating gently

There's a bigger version here, if you feel like burning through a couple of megabytes of your download allowance.

The GIF features 19 frames captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera on November 12th, as Philae descended for its tricky touchdown on the comet. ®

* Yes, we are pointing out that “GIF” is pronounced “jif”. Again.

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