EPOXI

Two intriguing investigations -- One flight-proven spacecraft

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103P on 2010-11-04: Closing in on Comet Hartley 2

First of the five pre-selected close approach images sent back

Caption: This close-up view of comet Hartley 2 was taken as NASA's EPOXI mission flew by at 6:58 a.m. PDT (9:58 a.m. EDT). The spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument snapped the picture from a distance of 1,417 kilometers (880 miles).

The comet's nucleus, or main body, is approximately 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long and .4 kilometers (.25 miles) at the "neck," or most narrow portion. Jets can be seen streaming out of the nucleus. The sun is to the right.

This EPOXI mission image of comet 103P/Hartley 2 was taken 100 seconds before Time of Closest Approach (TCA) using the Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI) and a clear filter. The mid-exposure time was 2010/11/04 13:58 UTC.

Technical Details

Image Parameter	Details
Spacecraft:	Deep Impact Flyby
Instrument:	Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI)
Mid-exposure Date/Time (UTC):	2010/11/04 13:58
Filter:	Clear
Exposure:	0.04 sec
Pointing:
Field of View:
Solar Elongation:
Solar Phase Angle:
Sun-Comet distance (r):
DIF-Comet distance:	(~1417 km)

Table 1: Data about image.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

103P spectra, lightcurves...

2010-10-27 CN coma
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103P on...

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