Just in time, the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander has been found by Rosetta’s high-resolution camera wedged in a dark crack on the comet.

Philae found. Credit: Main image and lander inset: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; context: ESA/Rosetta/ NavCam – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

Until now, Philae’s precise location has not been known. According to ESA’s Laurence O’Rourke, who has been coordinating the search for the past months:

After months of work, with the focus and the evidence pointing more and more to this lander candidate, I’m very excited and thrilled that we finally have this all-important picture of Philae sitting in Abydos.

The discovery comes less than a month before Rosetta descends to the comet’s surface. For more about the remarkable find, see PHILAE FOUND! at ESA’s website: http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/58220-philae-found/

Philae close-up, labelled. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA