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Re:Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta by mckoss on Sunday November 16, 2014 @01:32AM (#8613604)
It looks like you can see the lander, up in the air and casting a shadow on the surface in the 2nd image. If it is, you can get a good estimate of its horizontal velocity from the image timestamp.

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z13gzxiwdkq2clyew22...

Re:Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta by pcrh on Sunday November 16, 2014 @10:14AM (#8614349)
That speck appears to be there in the first image as well, though not as bright...?

I wonder if Philae actually landed exactly where computed (the green square), and if so why the dark dust does not radiate from that spot, but "down-wards". Perhaps Philae hit the surface at an angle?

Re:Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta by valevk on Sunday November 16, 2014 @05:45AM (#8613912)
Did the lander somehow adjust itself while hovering away from the original landing site? I can't imagine Philae bouncing away, then flying for roughly one hour (?) and then landing on its feet.
Re:Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta by fit2rule on Sunday November 16, 2014 @07:11AM (#8614054)
It had a flywheel in use at the time, which was used to stabilize its flight relative to the surface, but it induced a spin ..
Re:Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta by lmm on Sunday November 16, 2014 @06:56AM (#8614031)
It would land heavy side down both initially and after a bounce, no?
Re:Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta by throwaway_yy2Di on Sunday November 16, 2014 @11:13AM (#8614525)
Gravity exerts almost no torque here. Philae has 100 kg of inertia, but it weighs less than a feather.

Even if were in a strong gravity field, that still wouldn't orient it, if there's no force like air resistance to attenuate its tumbling. It can rotate indefinitely in the vertical plane: there's no loss of energy. (In an atmosphere, this rotation is damped by air drag, so gravity can orient things).