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NASA images show comet spouting dust, gas
By Associated Press
Published January 4, 2004
PASADENA, Calif. - NASA said Saturday it has captured dozens of closeup images of a distant comet that show the frozen ball of rock and ice spewing jets of dust and gas into space.
The Stardust spacecraft took 72 images of the dark nucleus of comet Wild 2 during a derring-do flyby Friday that occurred 242-million miles from Earth.
Scientists at the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory began poring over the images as the pictures and other scientific data reached Earth on Saturday.
Initial analysis of the images revealed at least five and as many as seven jets shooting from the comet, project manager Tom Duxbury said.
The images cover about 40 percent of the surface of Wild 2, which appears pocked with sinkholes formed where scientists believe the comet has lost material through sublimation - solids turning to gas without an intermediate liquid phase.
NASA said it would release more of the images of the egg-shaped, 3.3-mile diameter comet to the public on Monday or Tuesday.
So far the agency has released a single black-and-white photo of the comet nucleus. It showed what looked like a giant frozen meatball pocked with sinkholes.
The spacecraft swooped within 149 miles of the frozen ball of rock and ice to collect samples from its glittering halo of dust and gas and bring them to Earth.
Stardust recorded two distinct bursts of particles believed spewed by active jets on the surface of Wild 2 (pronounced Vilt-2) as it safely plowed through the gossamer cloud that envelops the comet.
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