BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy NASA fly-by of the green comet

Tomorrow (November 4th) NASA's EPOXI craft doing a fly-by of Comet Hartley! It should get within 450 miles (700 km) of the nucleus. There is live coverage on NASA TV starting at 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time. NASA TV

In case you're wondering, EPOXI is a contraction of Extrasolar Planet Observation, and Characterization and Deep Impact Extended Investigation. Yeah, pretty yuk name.

NASA's fly-by of Comet Hartley 2 was successful. The spacecraft got up to 435 miles from the comet. Astronomers tend to describe comets as shaped like potatoes, but this one doesn't look like any potato I've ever peeled!



To find out more about comets, have a look at Introducing Comets

Here's an Astronomy Picture of the Day showing 5 frames of the pictures of the nucleus of Comet Hartley 2.

Pictures from Comet Hartley fly-by

The shape of the nucleus has been described as a "champagne cork" -- love it.