Via Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog is this amazing 3D animation of the EPOXI spacecraft's close approach to the nucleus of comet Hartley 2!
You'll need red/green glasses to see it in 3D, but if you prefer the folks at EPOXI HQ put together a nice flat version: Incredible! Also at Emily's blog is an awesome size comparison of various small solar system bodies like comets Halley and Tempel 1 (which EPOXI took a close look at in 2005 when it was still called Deep Impact). The nucleus of Hartley 2 is actually pretty dinky compared to the other comets, but note how similar in shape it is to Halley and Borrelly. Clearly, two-lobed peanut-shaped nuclei are not rare among comets, and even though we've only gotten a close look at a handful of them, I'd even wager they're downright common! That surprises me, and I am not ...
