Deep Impact on Hartley 2

摘要

After carrying out an impact experiment on comet 9P/Tempel 1 in 2005, the Deep Impact satellite flew by comet Hartley 2 in November 2010 as part of its extended mission. The goals were to understand the diversity of morphology and topography of cometary nuclei by going to a comet with a much smaller nucleus than those of the comets previously visited by spacecraft.The nucleus of Hartley 2 is the fifth to be observed up close bv a spacecraft. A Hearn ef al.