EPOXI flies past comet Hartley 2
Posted: Fri, Nov 5, 2010, 7:31 AM ET (1131 GMT)
NASA's EPOXI mission provided scientists with the first close-up views of the nucleus of comet Hartley 2 on Thursday, revealing a small, elongated body similar in shape to a bone or peanut. The spacecraft, launched in 2005 as Deep Impact to fly past comet Tempel 1 later that year, passed about 700 kilometers from the nucleus of comet Hartley 2 at 10 am EDT (1400 GMT) Thursday. Images returned by the spacecraft revealed an elongated nucleus about 2 kilometers long, with clumps of material littering the surface at both nodes, but a relatively smooth middle region. The spacecraft will be returning data for several more weeks. EPOXI takes is name from a combination of two extended missions performed by the spacecraft since its 2005 Tempel 1 flyby: the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) and Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI).
NASA's EPOXI mission provided scientists with the first close-up views of the nucleus of comet Hartley 2 on Thursday, revealing a small, elongated body similar in shape to a bone or peanut. The spacecraft, launched in 2005 as Deep Impact to fly past comet Tempel 1 later that year, passed about 700 kilometers from the nucleus of comet Hartley 2 at 10 am EDT (1400 GMT) Thursday. Images returned by the spacecraft revealed an elongated nucleus about 2 kilometers long, with clumps of material littering the surface at both nodes, but a relatively smooth middle region. The spacecraft will be returning data for several more weeks. EPOXI takes is name from a combination of two extended missions performed by the spacecraft since its 2005 Tempel 1 flyby: the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh) and Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI).
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Apex becomes billion-dollar company with $200 million Series D round
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:09 AM ET (0809 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Monday, September 15
Elon Musk's Starlink reports service outage, thousands of users affected
Reuters — 1:23 am ET (0523 GMT) What does the loss of U.S. Space Command mean to Colorado Springs?
Denver Post — 1:21 am ET (0521 GMT) SpaceX Launches Northrop Grumman Cargo Ship To ISS
Aviation Week — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday
WESH-TV Orlando — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT) Apollo 13 made Jim Lovell a legend generations after the space race
The Hill — 1:09 am ET (0509 GMT) |
