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Wow, you know how I use the term "amazing" when making these Astro-Porn of the Day posts? Well... WOW! Here's some more amazingness! This photo of Comet Hartley 2 was taken by NASA's EPOXI spacecraft at a distance of only 435 miles. Notice the outgassing and just all-around coolness and dramaticosity of this shot:
Click the image to see the EPOXI news page.
And if that's not dramatic enough for you, how about a little time-accelerated Quicktime movie showing the hour of closest approach:
Video by NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD/Brown University.
NASA sez: "This animation of the flyby is made of 40 photos taken from the spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument during the encounter. The first image was taken at about 37 minutes before the time of closest approach at a distance of about 27,350 kilometers (17,000 miles). The last image was taken 30 minutes after closest approach at a distance of 22,200 kilometers (13,800 miles). The spacecraft was able to image nearly 50 percent of the comet's illuminated surface in detail."
What you're seeing right here is a series of photographs taken by a spacecraft we sent to a FREAKING COMET! Does it get much cooler than that? Well, actually, I'm fairly certain we'll see something within months that makes me think that again, and of course a few months later we'll have more, and so on and so on.
Rock'n'roll.
Chris
Click the image to see the EPOXI news page.
And if that's not dramatic enough for you, how about a little time-accelerated Quicktime movie showing the hour of closest approach:
Video by NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD/Brown University.
NASA sez: "This animation of the flyby is made of 40 photos taken from the spacecraft's Medium-Resolution Instrument during the encounter. The first image was taken at about 37 minutes before the time of closest approach at a distance of about 27,350 kilometers (17,000 miles). The last image was taken 30 minutes after closest approach at a distance of 22,200 kilometers (13,800 miles). The spacecraft was able to image nearly 50 percent of the comet's illuminated surface in detail."
What you're seeing right here is a series of photographs taken by a spacecraft we sent to a FREAKING COMET! Does it get much cooler than that? Well, actually, I'm fairly certain we'll see something within months that makes me think that again, and of course a few months later we'll have more, and so on and so on.
Rock'n'roll.
Chris
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Yayayayaya! All I have to offer in response to this is incoherent glee. =)
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