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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-com09-00002

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 816 kilometers. 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 -