Detailed picture of comet's heart

The highest resolution image obtained by the Stardust spacecraft as it flew by Comet Wild 2 in January, has just been released by the US space agency.

The Image shows a pockmarked "flying mountain" strewn with jets of gas and dust that billow in the solar wind.

As well as taking pictures, Stardust managed to capture and store thousands of fresh cometary dust particles released from the object's surface.

The probe will return this cargo to Earth for anaylsis in January 2006.

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How cool is that!!

Hi Gryffen!!

Thanx for the info on this achievemnt - we live in interesting times!!

Another image, from your source, probably gives a better representation of what was photgraphed (I think the picture you have is an artists impression??)



Nice find - thanx again!!

I always found Stardust very fascinating, too bad it occured near the same time as the Mars rovers or else it might have gotten a bit better reception throughout the space world. Still i continue reading and hoping they find something significant in the comets themselves

i'm hoping that they'll find amino acids. comets are one theory of how life came to be here on earth. same with water, too.

The photograph is a combination of 2 REAL photos. One is taken fairly normally for surface detail (similar to the other photo posted here). The other photo is a long overexposure so that the jets from the comet can be picked up in the image. Then the two photos were combined into one for dramatic effect. The 2 pictures were probably taken about 30 seconds apart (more or less, I forget). The stardust website has more details o this.