Introducing Comet Hartley 2

• Click the image above for a larger view
• Full-Res JPEG (501 x 501) (9.7 kB)
• Full-Res TIFF (501 x 501) (251.5 kB)

Caption:

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), from a distance of about 700 kilometers (435 miles). The comet's nucleus, or main body, is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and .4 kilometers (.25 miles) at the "neck," or most narrow portion. Jets can be seen streaming out of the nucleus.

The mission's Medium-Resolution Instrument was used to capture this view. The sun is to the right.

Cataloging Keywords: