That 3rd link is very cool. Do you know what does the "comet speed" means on it?... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		vmarsy on Nov 12, 2014 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Philae has landed That 3rd link is very cool. Do you know what does the "comet speed" means on it? Is it its speed relative to the earth ? It's going at 18km per second, so around 65 000 km/h (40,000 mph). People manage to land something that left from earth starting at a speed of 0.00km/h and then traveled 6.5 billion km to an object going at that speed, all of this happening 500 million km away. It is amazing!

utoku on Nov 12, 2014 [–]

Its speed is most likely relative to Sun.

Earth moves at about 30km/s relative to sun. So that's your minimal starting speed.

spiritplumber on Nov 13, 2014 | [–]

Speeds are generally given relative to the object being orbited, so in this case the Sun.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact