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Comet's Snowstorm
Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
A high-resolution (but out-of-focus) picture shows the flurry of particles around the nucleus of comet 103P/Hartley 2. NASA's Epoxi mission flew close to the nucleus earlier this month, snapping more than 32,000 images.
A new analysis of the pictures reveals that the comet is surrounded by a "snowstorm" of relatively large particles—some up to the size of basketballs, scientists say.
Find out how scientists got a look at the snowstorm around comet Hartley 2 >>Published November 18, 2010
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Sharpened Blizzard
Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
A processing technique called deconvolution sharpens a picture of the "snowstorm" around comet Hartley 2.
Looking at the well-defined particles allowed NASA scientists to estimate their sizes and density. Although the largest particles are golf ball- to basketball-size, the ice is porous and fluffy.
Published November 18, 2010
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Ice Particles, Near and Far
Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
Yellow circles mark the relatively large ice chunks surrounding comet Hartley 2 in a picture taken earlier this month by NASA's EPOXI spacecraft. By combining two slightly offset versions of this image, scientists created a 3-D anaglyph (not shown), which reveals how the particles are distributed around the comet's nucleus.
Published November 18, 2010
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Comet Collision Risk
Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD
Yellow circles highlight two streaks—larger particles inside the halo of comet Hartley 2.
The particles are streaking because they are near the EPOXI spacecraft, which hurtled through the comet's halo at about 27,000 miles (43,000 kilometers) an hour. NASA engineers think the craft was hit by dust nine times during the flyby, but it appears none of the collisions did any damage.
Published November 18, 2010
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Comet's Dry-Ice Jets
Image courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD/McREL
An illustration shows the likely way frozen carbon dioxide, aka dry ice, inside comet Hartley 2 drives the highly active jets at the surface of the nucleus.
When the comet nears the sun, heat causes the dry ice to sublimate, or turn directly from a solid to a gas. The gas then shoots out of the surface, carrying particles of dirt and water ice.
Find out the fate of NASA's EPOXI spacecraft >>
Published November 18, 2010
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