Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — Scientists now have close-up pictures of a hyperactive comet that seems to be spewing water. Hartley 2 isn’t the only such comet, but it’s the first to be visited by a spacecraft during a flyby, researchers report in today’s edition of the journal Science. University of Maryland astronomer Michael A’Hearn says when warmed by the sun, dry ice deep in the comet’s body turns to carbon dioxide gas jetting off the comet. The gas drags water ice along with it.
The photos were taken last fall by NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft. The Associated Press
