back to article Pundits ponder perilous placement of STANDING STONES on Comet 67P

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released images of what it's cautiously calling "an unusual formation of boulders in the Aker region on the large lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ... reminiscent of so-called 'balancing rocks' on Earth." The three stones, depicted below, appear to be have a rather small footprint. So …

  1. Pen-y-gors

    Obviously religious

    Clearly a place of worship erected by the Clangers (who have taken Philae down into their underground caverns where it is now used to store the soup)

    1. VeganVegan
      Alien

      Re: Obviously religious

      Rock of ages, cleft for me.

  2. Grikath

    more like stuck?

    It's still a microgravity environment out there.. Those things could have gotten dislodged in an earlier solar pass, and landed back on the main body. You'd only need a little bit of melt of the ice from the kinetic energy to stick the rocks to the main body again. It's not as if there's huge forces or erosion at work there when the comet is not near the sun.

    1. Brandon 2
      Alien

      Re: more like stuck?

      Water ice doesn't melt in space. It sublimates. And how would this "stick the rocks to the main body again"?

      /pedant

      Definitely aliens...

      1. Richard 12 Silver badge

        Re: more like stuck?

        Heat of collision could do it.

        Smack two ice cubes together and they can stick together.

      2. Grikath

        Re: more like stuck? @ brandon

        I very much doubt that the surface of the comet is water ice.. The comet is practically black..

        I was thinking more about an unholy mixture of methane, ammonia, carbon mono/dioxide, hydrogen cyanide, and possibly assorted complex carbohydrates/sulfur compounds thrown in. Makes for a very sticky mess when half-melted, and at seriously lower temperatures than pure water would even budge.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    It's a monolith!

    (I'll just fetch my coat ...)

    1. Stanislaw
      Alien

      Re: It's a monolith!

      Someone should point something at it pronto, and measure its dimensions. If it turns out to be 1x4x9 (x16x25x36x49x...) then at least we'll know that Philae is currently having a very confusing time in a posh hotel room.

    2. AC84

      Re: It's a monolith!

      A monolith? On Churyumov-Gerasimenko? Sounds like more of a Shelbyville idea to me...

    3. Trigonoceps occipitalis

      Re: It's a monolith!

      No, a Sentinel.

  4. chivo243 Silver badge
    Happy

    Space Druids

    Clearly a movie can be made from this idea!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Space Druids

      Quick, get John Carpenter on the phone!

      1. Elmer Phud

        Re: Space Druids

        Nah, Druids in movies usually also means ladies dancing about with very little clothes on --- there can be only one for the job -- Veerhoven. never a frame without a gratuitous nipple.

    2. Crazy Operations Guy

      Re: Space Druids

      Odd, that comet doesn't look Druish...

  5. ThatGuy
    Alien

    I'm not saying it was aliens...

    but it was aliens...

  6. Little Mouse
    Coat

    That teeny-tiny rock is actually the REAL comet

    ...and Churyumov-Gerasimenko is just a freeloading passenger.

  7. Doctor_Wibble

    Stones from a home electrical retailer?

    Standing stones for 67p? Bargain!

    Now, where do I find the nearest shop...?

  8. Sir Sham Cad

    Icehenge

    I thought Icehenge was just a shit Kim Stanley Robinson book. Turns out it was non-fiction.

    So, yeah, it was Us all along.

    1. cray74

      Re: Icehenge

      "I thought Icehenge was just a shit Kim Stanley Robinson book. Turns out it was non-fiction."

      But still shit. I mean, the book not this finding on Comet 67P, which is cool.

  9. Kubla Cant

    Promises

    If they were a bit closer they'd be able to read Ed Milliband's election promises on one of them.

    1. herman

      Re: Promises

      Man, you just made me snort my coffee.

  10. Chris G

    Tread carefully

    An old tradition in Ibiza was when a camposino (bumpkin) took a dump in the country, he would pile up three stones as a warning.

    I suggest a search for organic compounds and goin by the size of the stones, don' t pick any fights.

  11. Elmer Phud

    Sounds more like a bit of Discworld has broken off.

    Something wrong with the latest Monolith upgrade and it went critical, sending a small chunk in to roundspace.

  12. Andy The Hat Silver badge

    Hmm. Having studied this for some time I conclude that they are not 'balancing rocks' as that's just silly.

    As the article says the 'objects' are hard to identify, but I think they are actually three ramblers who've sat down for a rest after getting lost just outside Newcastle. The proof is that the trodden path is obvious to their right ...

  13. Crazy Operations Guy

    Are those stones actually separate objects?

    I would posit that those may be all part of the same connected hunk of rock, but just had sections eroded out over time making it appear as three boulders (Say passing through a particle cloud a couple times, but the particles are deflected at different angles as the front end of the comet gets worn down)

  14. Mike Moyle

    Menhirs...?

    My, that Obelix fellow does certainly get around.

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      Re: Menhirs...?

      Well he did go to Rome, Britain, Africa, even as far as India... but I don't remember him ever going into space.

      He probably just threw the menhirs, and they've stuck into the comet pointy end first.

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