Graphic Shows Just How Massive The Comet Philae Landed On Is (Photo)

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may only be 2-and-a-half miles wide, but that in no way means it's small.

A graphic created by Matt Wang portrays the comet sitting behind Los Angeles, emphasizing the dimensions that illustrate the 4 billion-year-old comet's true size.

The perspective also makes it even more amazing that a person can reportedly walk across one end of the comet to the other in less than an hour.

Currently drilling for samples on the comet is the robot Philae, which is about the size of a washing machine.

The ESA (European Space Agency) probe made history yesterday when it departed from its mothership, Rosetta, after 10 years of travel and became the first man-made device to land on a comet.

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is located 4 billion miles away, rotates every 12 hours and travels at 40,000 miles per hour, according to the BBC.

The three-legged robot's work will test a number of theories regarding the role of comets in the origins of the Solar System, some of which infer that comets were extremely vital in creating the Earth's natural and living environments.

There is much concern that Philae has become wedged into a tight space and isn't getting enough sunlight to power the solar batteries that take over after the initial battery's 60 hours of life expire.

If that's the case, the head of ESA operations, Paolo Ferri, predicts the lander's power will only last until Saturday.

The only way out may be to launch Philae's deployable harpoons, but this could also just send it back into space.

[caption id="attachment_848919" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Matt Wang[/caption]

Citations: Graphic Shows The Size Of Rosettas Comet (IFL Science), Rosetta concerns for comet lander after uneven landing (BBC)