madison

Images: Streaking home with piece of comet's tail

by ZDNet Author  |  July 19, 2006 11:36am PDT  |  Image 1 of 9

Previous  |  Next

Stardust
Stardust, NASA's comet-chasing space probe, is expected to make a showy return to Earth to complete its six-year, 2.88-billion mile journey. The craft was launched in 1999 and collected particles from the tail of comet Wild 2 in January 2004, when it approached within 147 miles of its body. When Stardust's comet dust-filled capsule returns to Earth, at about 3 a.m. MST Jan. 15, 2006, it will be visible as a point of light to the naked eye as it streaks across Nevada and Utah to its deserted landing site at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range.

Talkback - Tell Us What You Think

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

Facebook Activity