Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Stardust's first sight of Tempel 1

Stardust's first sight of Tempel 1
Stardust's first sight of Tempel 1 Stardust first sighted its second comet on January 18 and 19, less than a month before its planned flyby of Tempel 1 on February 15, 2010. This is a composite image (likely a stack) of several taken over a period of two days, showing the faint fuzz of the comet against a background of stars and noise in the camera system. NASA/JPL/UMD