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Close Cometary Encounter
Featured on February 17, 2011
This is one of the closest-range pictures of Comet Tempel-1 snapped by Stardust, a spacecraft that flew less than 120 miles from the comet on the night of February 14. The icy comet is covered with impact craters and ridges. The small bright spots may be regions where ice is vaporizing and spewing into space, adding material to the comet's coma and tail. [NASA/JPL/Cornell]
