Free Astronomy Magazine May-June 2015

SMALL BODIES lander (the size of a washing machine) were therefore only able to work until the power stored in its batteries before sepa- ration from Rosetta completely run out after about 60 hours; Philae then placed it- self into safe mode, while waiting to per- haps one day resume its valuable work of analysis of the cometary nucleus. That brief period of activity was, however, sufficient to produce some important discoveries and spur the publication in recent months of several scientific articles. Besides organic molecules and water ice, researchers found that the core of 67P/Chu- ryumov-Gerasimenko is not magnetic, and this is a very interesting discovery with sig- nificant implications on our understanding of the birth of the planetary system. It is in fact certain that a modest amount of the iron initially present in the protoplanetary nebula was in the form of magnetite and P hilae photo- graphed by the OSIRIS cam- era shortly after its separation from Rosetta. [ESA/Rosetta/ MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/ LAM/IAA/SSO/INT A/UPM/DASP/IDA] S ome shots of the descent of Philae towards the comet: in the first three the probe can be seen getting closer to the surface; the two im- ages taken at 15:43 GMT show where Philae should have been (touchdown point) and where instead it really was. From the comparison with the shot taken at 15:18 GMT are evident the signs left by the probe after its first bounce. It will defi- nitely land at 17:32 GMT at a yet unknown loca- tion. [ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA] that therefore the molecules in which it was embedded represented a suitable cat- alyst for other molecules and could favour, with their tiny magnetic fields, the aggre- gation of dust and grains of gradually in- creasing sizes. These would be the first step