- Comet Tempel 1 – New imagery. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
- Comet Tempel 1 – New imagery. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell
NASA’s Stardust-New Exploration of Tempel 1 (Stardust-NExT) has successfully flown by a previously visited comet.
The spacecraft returned imagery of comet Tempel 1 at 8:39 p.m. PST (11:39 p.m. EST) on February 14, closing in to a distance of 181 kilometers (112 miles).
The comet was first studied by NASA’s Deep Impact mission in 2005.
Stardust-NExT is a low-cost mission that has expanded the investigation of comet Tempel 1. Scientists are now studying the imagery and other data collected during this latest flyby, providing perspectives on changes seen on the comet since Deep Impact’s investigation.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the Stardust spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission operations.
For more information about Stardust-NExT, please visit:
http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov
By LD/CSE