THE latest analysis of pictures taken by NASA’s Stardust probe during its headlong plunge through comet Wild 2 on 2 January has revealed a big surprise: the comet’s icy nucleus is covered in what look like impact craters.
In its first bulletin last week on the mission’s findings, the Stardust team reported that the jets of gas producing the comet’s spectacular coma and tail appear to be emanating from pits on the surface of the nucleus (Â鶹´«Ã½, 10 January, p 11).
Now the team has studied more detailed pictures from the probe and found that as well as…
