Nasa spacecraft Stardust-NExT will establish contact with comet Tempel 1 on 14 February, allowing scientists to observe changes on a comet’s surface after it has orbited around the sun for the first time.
In the course of the flyby, Stardust-NExT will capture 72 high-resolution images and try to gauge the composition, distribution, and flux of dust emitted into the coma – material around the comet’s nucleus.
The data collected from the mission is expected to yield new information on the evolution and formation of Jupiter-family comets.
Stardust-NExT is set to complete 12 years of space travel, during which it has logged 3.7 billion miles.
This is expected to be the spacecraft’s last flyby.
The initial raw images from the flyby will be sent to Earth for processing, which will begin at approximately 3am EST on 15 February and the images are expected to be available at approximately 4.30am EST.
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By GlobalData
