Comet Borrelly's Nucleus
Explanation:
What does a comet nucleus look like?
To answer this question,
NASA
controllers drove an aging probe through the hostile environs
of a distant comet, expecting that even if comet fragments
disabled the spacecraft, it would be worth the risk.
The probe,
Deep
Space 1, survived.
Pictured above is the most
detailed image ever taken of a
comet nucleus,
obtained Saturday
by Deep Space 1
and
released yesterday by
NASA.
Comet
Borrelly's nucleus is seen to be about 8 kilometers long with
mountains,
faults,
grooves,
smooth rolling
plains,
and materials of vastly
different reflectance.
Light colored regions are present
near the center and seem to give rise to
dust jets seen in Borrelly's
coma, visible in
distant images of the comet.
Previously, the
best image of a comet nucleus
came from the
Giotto
mission to
Comet Halley in 1986.
Deep Space 1 images of Borrelly add welcomed
bedrock to understanding
Solar System
history
and to the accurate prediction of future brightness changes of
notoriously fickle comets.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
