Flyby Reveals Stunning Complexity of Comet Hartley 2 : Big Pic
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Nov. 4, 2010 -- NASA's EPOXI/Deep Impact probe has made its closest approach of around 700 kilometers (435 miles) to Comet Hartley-2, returning the first photographs of the cometary nucleus. This is the fifth close-encounter between robotic space probe and comet.
SLIDE SHOW: Close Encounters With Comets
This selected image was taken around the approximate time of closest approach. Although the image is unprocessed, impressive detail of surface features on the icy nucleus can already be seen. Along the bottom and right-hand surfaces of the comet, apparent jets are ejecting vapor into space. However, further analysis will have to wait until higher resolution, processed photographs become available.
SLIDE SHOW: Asteroids and Near-Earth Objects
"The stunning new images returned of the comet as it zoomed past the spacecraft at a relative speed of more than 27,000 mph are awe inspiring," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a press release today. "The images taken and other science collected should help reveal new insights into the origins of our solar system as scientists pore over them in the months and years to come."
"This mission represents one of NASA's most successful deep space exploration projects. The encounter with Hartley 2 today adds to the data collected by the mission during Deep Impact's prime mission to comet Tempel 1 in 2005 and the science acquired during the successful EPOCh mission."
Image: Close-up of Comet Hartley 2 captured by EPOXI's Medium-Resolution Instrument. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
-- Ian O'Neill, Discovery News
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