NASA鈥檚 Deep Space 1 probe flew past Comet Borrelly on Saturday. It plunged
into the 50,000-kilometre-wide cloud of dust and gas surrounding the comet at
16.5 kilometres per second. During the fly-by, Deep Space 1 analysed energetic
ions around the comet and gathered information on the comet鈥檚 composition. The
probe took close-up snaps of the comet鈥檚 nucleus from around 2200 kilometres
away. 鈥淭his just worked perfectly,鈥 says NASA鈥檚 Marc Rayman, the craft鈥檚 project
manager. 鈥淚 honestly didn鈥檛 think it was up to the task.鈥
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Technology
Test moderators use AI-generated writing to judge literacy standards
News
Mind
THC in cannabis may reduce nightmares in people with PTSD
News
Environment
Fishers detonate a bomb every hour on one Indonesian coral reef
News
Environment
How bad is the UK drought and how long will it continue?
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles