National Aeronautics and Space Administration Deep Impact has deep space encounter with Comet Hartley 2

A space probe called Deep Impact designed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration passed closely by Comet Hartley 2 and sent striking images back to World Thurs. The Deep Impact spacecraft completed a similar rendezvous in 2005 with Comet Tempel 1. Comet Hartley 2 had been discovered by Malcolm Hartley, an Australian astronomer who had been at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., when images of his namesake arrived. Resource for this article – NASA Deep Impact has deep space encounter with Comet Hartley 2 by Personal Money Store.

Having an encounter in deep space

When NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft beamed back the first photos from its rendezvous with Comet Hartley 2, scientists standing by at JPL Labs cheered and applauded. About three quarters of a mile was how long the nucleus of the comet was. It also had glowing jets of dust and gas coming out of the back of what appeared to be a giant ball of ice shaped like a drumstick. The spacecraft was in space for five years and had traveled 2.5 billion miles. Going at a speed of 27,000 mph, it flew past the Comet Hartley.

The Deep Impact mission of NASA

Scientists study comets because they harbor original ingredients from the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. The NASA Deep Impact mission launched in January 2005 visited Comet Tempel 1. When it arrived at the comet it launched an 800-pound copper projectile into the nucleus. The composition of the comet was measured by sensors. Meeting with Comet Boethin in 2008 was what Deep impact did although when the spacecraft left, the comet broke up. It was rerouted to Hartley 2, which took another two years to reach.

Information about NASA deep space missions

Comet Hartley wasn't the first photographed comet by deep space probes. It had been actually the fifth. The other four are Halley, Wild 2, Borelli and Tempel 1. All of the comets seem to look very different. In 2006, the NASA spacecraft Stardust passed Comet Wild 2. When passing, grains of dust from its tail were captured. Later it sent the dust in a capsule back to Earth and moved on for an additional rendezvous with the target of Deep Impact’s first mission, Tempel 1, on Valentine's Day 2011.

Articles cited

New York Times

nytimes.com/2010/11/02/science/space/02comet.html?_r=2&src=twrhp

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/Science/2010/1020/Comet-Hartley-2-to-swing-by-Earth-Wednesday

CNET

news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-20021786-239.html