This black-and-white image of the comet Hartley 2 provided by NASA was sent from the NASA EPOXI Mission Deep Impact spacecraft, which passed within 435 miles (700 kilometers) of the comet at its closest point, and was received at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010. The comet is estimated to be 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) long, and weigh about 280 million metric tons. (AP Photo NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Maryland)PASADENA, Calif. — A NASA spacecraft sped past a small comet Thursday, beaming pictures back to Earth that gave scientists a rare close-up view of its center. Mission controllers burst into applause upon seeing images from the flyby that revealed a peanut-shaped comet belching jets of poisonous gases.
"It's hyperactive, small and feisty," said mission scientist Don Yeomans of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The close encounter occurred 13 million miles from Earth when the Deep Impact craft, hurtling through space, flew within 435 miles of comet Hartley 2. It's only the fifth time that...
