Hartley 2, up close

2010/11/09 Aulestiarte Lete, Izaro - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Astronomia

With a little imagination, at first glance we could look like the upper element like peanut, a large bone for dogs or a weigh. But it is comet Hartley 2.

On the morning of November 4, the Epoxi ship passed by its side, about 700 kilometers away, at a speed of 43,000 kilometers per hour. And NASA has stressed that the images obtained at that time are one of the best that have been taken so far to a comet. In addition, before we only knew four other comets so closely, this is the fifth.

Thanks to the images obtained they have discovered, for example, that Hartley 2 is of reduced dimensions, with its core of two kilometers of length and its narrow “neck” of only 0.4 kilometers.

The comet is bright and in the image you can see how dust and gas come out of its surface. The light on the right corresponds to the Sun.

Image courtesy of: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD.