Lander search area

An example of the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera mosaics being used to search for Rosetta’s lander, Philae. The image is a slightly cropped 2 x 2 mosaic comprising images taken on 13 December 2014 from a distance of about 20 km to the centre of the comet. The lander, about 1 m across – the size of a household washing machine – would measure only about three pixels across in these images. The team are searching – by eye – for a set of three spots that correspond to the lander shape, but with the region strewn with boulders it is soon easy to identify multiple sets of three spots.

Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA