What does a comet nucleus look like? To answer this question, NASAcontrollers drove an aging probe through the hostile environsof a distant comet, expecting that even if comet fragmentsdisabled the spacecraft, it would be worth the risk. The probe, DeepSpace 1, survived. Pictured above is the mostdetailed image ever taken of a comet nucleus,obtained Saturda by Deep Space 1 andreleased yesterday by NASA. CometBorrelly's nucleus is seen to be about 8 kilometers long wit mountains, faults, grooves, smooth rolling plains, and materials of vastly different reflectance. Light colored regions are presentnear the center and seem to give rise to dust jets seen in Borrelly' coma, visible in distant images of the comet. Previously, the best image of a comet nucleus came from the Giottomission to Comet Halley in 1986. Deep Space 1 images of Borrelly add welcomed bedrock to understanding Solar System historyand to the accurate prediction of future brightness changes of notoriously fickle comets.
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