Fact Sheet
Fiery Comet
Comet Wild 2 appears to glow in this composite image from the Stardust spacecraft, which flew past the comet in January. The darker central portion of the picture shows craters, pits, and bright spots on the surface of Wild 2. The bright rays around the comet show where gas and dust is blowing into space from "jets" on the comet's surface. This material forms a big, bright cloud around the comet, plus a tail several million miles long. The image, which was released this week, was created by combining a short-exposure picture, which shows surface details, with a longer exposure, which shows the material around the comet. [Credit: NASA/JPL]
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