I’m not even sure I can put into words just how remarkable an achievement this is, but I’ll try.  NASA’s Deep Impact space probe, now called EPOXI, successfully passed within 434 miles of the 103P/Hartley 2 Comet, capturing some incredible images of the surface of one of the strangest comets ever discovered by astronomers.  Hartley 2 is a small (3/4ths of a mile across) comet discovered in 1986 which spews out gas and dust at an incredibly high rate.  The space probe traveled for 5 years and 2.5 billion miles to make its rendezvous with the comet in question.

Deep Impact last studied a comet, 9P/Tempel 1, in 2005.  Using the same probe to study two comets has provided NASA researchers, lead by Michael A’Hearn of the University of Maryland, a unique chance to study the materials making up the two comets in a contrasting manner.  Tempel 1 is large and stable; Hartley 2 is small and unstable.  The two comets could not be more different, but studying the differences might tell scientists just how various space bodies form in various locations.

Tags: Hartley 2, Deep Impact space probe, Hartley 2 Comet, comet captured up-close on camera, up-close view of comet, weird science, unusual pictures, astronomy, Michael A’Hearn, University of Maryland, unusual images, comet pictures, studying comets, EPOXI, probe passes within 434 miles of moving comet

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