Halley's Armada

Halley's Comet blazes against the black sky in this 1986 image from the Giotto spacecraft, which flew just a few hundred miles from the famous traveler on March 13 of that year. Giotto was one of five craft -- from Europe, Japan, and the Soviet Union -- to fly past the comet that month, during Halley's most recent visit to the inner solar system. Giotto passed closer than any of the others and made the most detailed observations, including this image of the comet's icy nucleus and part of its surrounding coma and tail. Fresh material was being pumped into the coma and tail as some of Halley's surface vaporized, spewing gas and dust into space. [ESA]