spacetoday.net: Stardust returns images of Tempel 1

Posted: Wed, Feb 16, 2011, 7:10 AM ET (1210 GMT)
Stardust image of Tempel 1 (NASA)

NASA's Stardust spacecraft, repurposed to fly past the comet Tempel 1, returned images Tuesday of the comet's nucleus, including the crater created by another NASA spacecraft several years ago. Operating under the Stardust-NExT mission, the Stardust spacecraft passed within 180 kilometers of the comet's nucleus at 11:40 pm EST Monday (0440 GMT Tuesday), taking 72 high-resolution images of the nucleus as well as collecting data on the comet's dust environment. Scientists said Tuesday that the images showed the crater created by the impactor on NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, which flew past the comet in 2005. The crater and other features on the surface of the comet's nucleus show signs of erosion. Stardust was launched in 1999 on a mission to collect dust from comet Wild 2 and in the interplanetary medium; those dust samples were returned to Earth in 2006, while the main spacecraft remained in space and was retargeted for the Tempel 1 flyby.