A little spacecraft is landing on a comet today. Confirmation expected around 16:00 UTC. - Polidicks

[IMG]http://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/avZGG4q_460sa_v1.gif[/IMG] And here's the trajectory the probe. I know it's physics, but it still looks like sorcery to me.

[QUOTE=Will Wright;46472353][IMG]http://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/avZGG4q_460sa_v1.gif[/IMG] And here's the trajectory the probe. I know it's physics, but it still looks like sorcery to me.[/QUOTE] The fact it passed back over earth three times in order to make it go faster... Who comes up with these ideas?

[QUOTE=thisguy123;46472374]The fact it passed back over earth three times in order to make it go faster... Who comes up with these ideas?[/QUOTE] Very smart people.

Any updates on the situation? The twitter hasn't updated in half an hour.

descent shot from ROLIS [img]http://puu.sh/cNW2i/ac043e616c.jpg[/img] [editline]dsf[/editline] [img]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2Qm2SoCYAIOExU.png:large[/img]

[QUOTE=archangel125;46472406]Any updates on the situation? The twitter hasn't updated in half an hour.[/QUOTE] Nothing yet [editline]12th November 2014[/editline] XKCD updated with a good thing :D

[QUOTE=shadow_oap;46472292][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMcAtnMLUMQ[/media] Thread Music[/QUOTE] no, sorry [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iteQE7KEyU[/media]

And now we can add another: [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13781308/Planetary%20Surfaces%20-%20%28Updated%20with%2067p%29.png[/t] I'll replace it with a better image when one becomes available.

[QUOTE=Pelf;46472757]And now we can add another: [t]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13781308/Planetary%20Surfaces%20-%20%28Updated%20with%2067p%29.png[/t] I'll replace it with a better image when one becomes available.[/QUOTE] Awesome images, but surely a more fitting title would be the 'Surfaces of Other Worlds' or something similar, since 4 of these aren't planets :v:

[QUOTE=Gen. Crumpets;46472761]Awesome images, but surely a more fitting title would be the 'Surfaces of Other Worlds' or something similar, since 4 of these aren't planets :v:[/QUOTE] oh yeah :v: fixed it now The original has been floating around the internet for a while but had some dumb or crappy images so I replaced them a while back. Never realized the title

[QUOTE=KinderBueno;46472270]A random question: Do you think human race will ever be extinct? then cities will be burried under earth/dust/sand and eventually earth will be just seen as plain planet with/without water and sand? I mean it creeps me out to think that if Voyager 1 golden record is ever found by other species say billion years from now, they see pictures, music and humans and come to earth just to find out they are late, and everything that ever existed on earth is now pretty much dead.[/QUOTE] [I]πάντα ῥεῖ[/I] - Heraclitus

The ESA quotes the speed of the comet to be 135,000 kilometres per hour. Anyone know what that is relative to?

[QUOTE=Trumple;46472874]The ESA quotes the speed of the comet to be 135,000 kilometres per hour. Anyone know what that is relative to?[/QUOTE] Really fucking quick

[QUOTE=Trumple;46472874]The ESA quotes the speed of the comet to be 135,000 kilometres per hour. Anyone know what that is relative to?[/QUOTE] It's most likely relative to Earth.

[QUOTE=Trumple;46472874]The ESA quotes the speed of the comet to be 135,000 kilometres per hour. Anyone know what that is relative to?[/QUOTE] I'm guessing relative to the sun, because that's what it orbits. Could be Earth too, Idunno.

Going by the thing it's orbiting feels most logical, so i'm guessing the sun

Those figures are pretty meaningless when you consider the velocity of our solar system itself around the galactic core, and then the velocity of the galaxy through the universe While 67p may be travelling at 40,000 mph relative to the sun, it may well actually be moving a gazillion mph in the opposite direction around the centre of the galaxy, which is heading for M31 at 250,000 mph [editline]sdasd[/editline] but yes they quote speeds relative to the sun

Press conference should start any minute now.

[QUOTE=Winstonn;46473030]Those figures are pretty meaningless when you consider the velocity of our solar system itself around the galactic core, and then the velocity of the galaxy through the universe While 67p may be travelling at 40,000 mph relative to the sun, it may well actually be moving a gazillion mph in the opposite direction around the centre of the galaxy, which is heading for M31 at 250,000 mph [editline]sdasd[/editline] but yes they quote speeds relative to the sun[/QUOTE] Speed being relative doesn't mean that it's meanigless.

So did they fix the anchors or is that still not revealed?

Not confirmed. If they can't anchor it it may be blown off the next time the comet comes close to the sun.

So, someone is probably getting fired for this one [img]http://i.imgur.com/aLWMK2H.png[/img]

[QUOTE=Killuah;46473045]Speed being relative doesn't mean that it's meanigless.[/QUOTE] To the average observer it means nothing to quote its velocity relative to the sun except to impress people who gasp when they hear large numbers

It's going to be terrible if something goes wrong, all that time wasted.

[QUOTE=BreenIsALie;46473004]Going by the thing it's orbiting feels most logical, so i'm guessing the sun[/QUOTE] Yeah, according to this: [url]http://www.livecometdata.com/comets/67p-churyumov-gerasimenko/[/url] They calculate "actual travelling speed through space relative to the sun." Also: [img]http://i.imgur.com/qTxZH1U.png[/img]

[QUOTE=The Drones;46473118]It's going to be terrible if something goes wrong, all that time wasted.[/QUOTE] It has already provided a lot of amazing data, so it's not for nothing no matter what happens at this point.

[QUOTE=The Drones;46473118]It's going to be terrible if something goes wrong, all that time wasted.[/QUOTE] It will hardly be wasted, Rosetta has already gathered a ton of data, as has Philae

It's speculative right now, but some data indicates the lander might have bounced slightly off the surface, rotated a little and then landed again. [editline]12th November 2014[/editline] Rosetta is below the horizon relative to Philae now, so it's not able to send data to Earth right now.

[QUOTE=LarparNar;46473190]It's speculative right now, but some data indicates the lander might have bounced slightly off the surface, rotated a little and then landed again.[/QUOTE] That's good, the gravity on that comet from current data is putting it about 0.001Gs. But they just mentioned in the press conference that they'll be out of contact range, why don't they use the DSN or other transceivers that have better view?

This is so fucking cool. [t]http://i.imgur.com/O2kTd4Y.png[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/LqFMHKp.png[/t]