[meteorite-list] Flight of the Comet (Hartley 2)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 19:42:23 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201011080342.oA83gN3e004475_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-375

Flight of the Comet
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 05, 2010

This video clip
<http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/epoxi/20101105/epoxi20101105.mov> was
compiled from images taken by NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft during its
flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010. During the encounter, the
spacecraft and comet whisked past each other at a speed of 12.3
kilometers per second (27,560 miles per hour). The spacecraft came
within about 700 kilometers (435 miles) of the comet's nucleus at the
time of closest approach.

"While future generations should have the opportunity to truly explore
comets, this flyby gives us an excellent preview of what they will get
to enjoy," said EPOXI principal investigator Michael A'Hearn of the
University of Maryland, College Park. "Hartley 2 exceeded all our
expectations in not only scientific value but in its stark majestic
beauty."

The video clip of the flyby is comprised of 40 frames taken from the
spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument during the encounter. The
first image was taken at about 37 minutes before the time of closest
approach at a distance of about 27,350 kilometers (17,000 miles). The
last image was taken 30 minutes after closest approach at a distance of
22,200 kilometers (13,800 miles). The spacecraft was able to image
nearly 50 percent of the comet's illuminated surface in detail.

The EPOXI mission's flyby of comet Hartley 2 was only the fifth time in
history that a comet nucleus has been imaged, and the first time in
history that two comets have been imaged with the same instruments and
same spatial resolution.

EPOXI is an extended mission that utilizes the already "in flight" Deep
Impact spacecraft to explore distinct celestial targets of opportunity.
The name EPOXI itself is a combination of the names for the two extended
mission components: the extrasolar planet observations, called
Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh), and the
flyby of comet Hartley 2, called the Deep Impact Extended Investigation
(DIXI). The spacecraft will continue to be referred to as "Deep Impact."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the EPOXI
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The
University of Maryland, College Park, is home to the mission's principal
investigator, Michael A'Hearn. Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is the science lead for the mission's
extrasolar planet observations. The spacecraft was built for NASA by
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.

For more information about EPOXI visit http://epoxi.umd.edu/.

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle at jpl.nasa.gov

2010-375
Received on Sun 07 Nov 2010 10:42:23 PM PST