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Wild 2 Comet Analyzed
Mz6 writes "Back in January Slashdot reported about the Stardust probe and its capture of particles from the tail of Wild 2 (pronounced 'Vilt 2'). You might also remember about how it snapped 72 images of the comet and sent them back to JPL. Well, after a detailed analysis of the comet Wild 2 and building upon preliminary analysis in March, it has left astronomers at JPL astounded at an object that has no known peers in the solar system. The comet has towering protrusions and steep-walled craters that seem to defy gravity, more than a dozen jets of material shoot out from its insides, dust swirls around the comet in unexpectedly dense pockets, and boasts 2 large 'footprints', aptly named Left and Right."
I know that there are countless countless objects in space... but I think they could come up with something better than left and right :)
Sounds to me like this is just an inter-stellar traveller from afar making his daily rounds. I'm going to laugh if we try to land a probe on a comet and some windshield wiper-like apparatus fires up and sweeps the probe off.
-- Stu
/. ID under 2,000. I feel old now.
Show us your craters! Show us your craters!
The features have been named Left Foot and Right Foot in a new map of the comet, which is roughly 3 miles (5 kilometers) wide.
That's one big map!
Have you read my blog lately?
The comet has towering protrusions and steep-walled craters that seem to defy gravity
Really? On an object flying in space? Whodathunkit?
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
Best of all.. there's minimal reading, just pretty pictures.
So you can means that nobody tell others RTFA? What day in slashdot history!
Read journal when you are not understand
And the 2, how do I pronounce that? Just asking...
I've been swashdotted -- Elmer Fudd
...you mean that stupid, stupid movie (Armageddon) actually might have had the look of a comet right? Who'd have thought.
;)
--I no longer spellcheck - it cost me 5 points.
Much hotter then other space bodies, that much is known.
But I suppose we can say LATFP :)
...and that's the end of our show. Donk!
> you mean that stupid, stupid movie (Armageddon) actually might have had the look of a comet right?
Well, this is made even funnier by the idea that Armageddon was a movie about a meteor, not a comet. Carry on.
Virg
"Only two other comets have been seen up close, but both appeared fairly smooth and were nowhere near so heavily cratered."
Well with such a HUGE sample pool, I can see how they're able to make such firm analysis of this meteor! I mean, really - both the others they've seen up close didn't look at this one, so clearly this one is completely unique in the solar system!
Sigh.
All of us geeks are trying to generate good images/movies of 43D models for Pr0n sites....