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> Comet Hartley 2 nucleus seen by Deep impact spacecraft

Comet Hartley 2 nucleus seen by Deep impact spacecraft

author: Nasa/JPL/UMD/Novapix

reference: a-com09-00001

Image Size 300 DPI: 8 * 8 cm

Comet Hartley 2 can be seen in glorious detail in this image from NASA's EPOXI mission. It was taken as the spacecraft flew by around 6:59 a.m. PDT (9:59 a.m. EDT) on november 4 2010, from a distance of about 700 kilometers (435 miles). The comet's nucleus, or main body, is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and 0.4 kilometers (0.25 miles) at the "neck," or most narrow portion. Jets can be seen streaming out of the nucleus. The sun is to the right.

Keywords for this photo:

103P/HARTLEY - 2010 - ASTRONOMY - COMET - DEEP IMPACT - EPOXI - HARTLEY 2 - NUCLEUS -