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PIA05004: Comet Wild 2 - Stardust Approach Image
This image was taken during the close approach phase of NASA's Stardust's Jan 2, 2004 flyby of comet Wild 2. It is a distant side view of the roughly spherical comet nucleus.
 Target Name:  Wild 2
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Stardust 
 Spacecraft:  Stardust
 Instrument:  Stardust Navigation Camera 
 Product Size:  2400 x 2618 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA05004.tif (1.535 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA05004.jpg (133.6 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image was taken during the close approach phase of Stardust's Jan 2, 2004 flyby of comet Wild 2. It is a distant side view of the roughly spherical comet nucleus. One hemisphere is in sunlight and the other is in shadow analogous to a view of the quarter moon. Several large depressed regions can be seen. Comet Wild 2 is about five kilometers (3.1 miles) in diameter.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech

Image Addition Date:
2004-01-06