Size Comparisons for Landing on a Comet

Today, the European Space Agency successfully landed a probe on a comet moving at 80,000 miles per hour. That’s an extraordinary achievement. What the scientists and engineers operating the Philae lander have accomplished is unprecedented.

It can be hard to grasp the significance of this feat. The 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet is tiny.

How small is it? Christopher Becke, a high school physics teacher in Williamsburg, Virginia, created several illustrations to demonstrate. He laid photos of the comet over New York City, Washington, and the Rock of Gibraltar, as well as next to space craft from Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, and Firefly.


-via ClarkHat


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