EPOXI Mission Flies By Comet Hartley 2

Cosimo

Cosimo

Cosimo

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A fantastic image from space as EPOXI mission has a close encounter with comet Hartley 2:​

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Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD​
This close-up view of comet Hartley 2 was taken by NASA's EPOXI mission during its flyby of the comet on Nov. 4, 2010. It was captured by the spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument.
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Comet Hartley 2 is the fifth comet nucleus visited by a spacecraft.​

PASADENA, CALIF. – NASA's EPOXI mission successfully flew by comet Hartley 2 at about 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT) today, and the spacecraft has begun returning images. Hartley 2 is the fifth comet nucleus visited by a spacecraft.

Scientists and mission controllers are currently viewing never-before-seen images of Hartley 2 appearing on their computer terminal screens.
"The mission team and scientists have worked hard for this day," said Tim Larson, EPOXI project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "It's good to see Hartley 2 up close."

Mission navigators are working to determine the spacecraft's closest approach distance. Preliminary estimates place the spacecraft close to the planned-for 700 kilometers (435 miles). Eight minutes after closest approach, at 6:59:47 a.m. PDT ( 9:59:47 a.m. EDT), the spacecraft's high-gain antenna was pointed at Earth and began downlinking vital spacecraft health and other engineering data stored aboard the spacecraft's onboard computer during the encounter. About 20 minutes later, the first images of the encounter made the 37-million-kilometer (23-million-mile) trip from the spacecraft to NASA's Deep Space Network antennas in Goldstone, Calif., appearing moments later on the mission's computer screens.

"We are all holding our breath to see what discoveries await us in the observations near closest approach," said EPOXI principal investigator Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park.
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A montage:​
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This image montage shows comet Hartley 2 as NASA's EPOXI mission approached and flew under the comet. The images progress in time clockwise, starting at the top left.

The image was taken by EPOXI's Medium-Resolution Instrument on Nov. 4, 2010. The sun is to the right.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
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The press conference:​
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We had another flyby yesterday when NASA's Stardust spacecraft had an encounter (112 miles) with comet Tempel 1. Here is one fantastic pictures that have been received:

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Comet Tempel 1 as Seen by NASA's Stardust
NASA's Stardust-NExT mission took this image of comet Tempel 1 at 8:39 p.m. PST (11:39 p.m. EST) on Feb 14, 2011. The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005.

Stardust-NExT is a low-cost mission that will expand the investigation of comet Tempel 1 initiated by NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Stardust-NExT for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Joe Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., is the mission's principal investigator. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission operations.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
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More images can be seen here:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/stardust/

More on the Stardust-NExT mission:

http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/

:)
 
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