One of the best Valentine's Day hookups is scheduled for later today - around 9:30p PST. And despite both parties' efforts to locate their rendezvous well away from curious onlookers, it will be photographed and beamed to anyone who, well, likes to watch. And it will be SPECTACULAR!
I refer, of course, to Justin Bieber and Lady... no, no no! I refer to the Stardust/NEXT spacecraft's close approach to comet Tempel 1.
More after the jump...
The Stardust craft is making history tonight in several ways. The craft first visited the comet Wild 2 and, in an early 2006 pass by Earth, dropped off a container of comet particles and interstellar dust. That was a first.
Now it's approaching Tempel 1, the site of the Deep Impact mission, making this the first time a comet has been visited twice. I do believe that Tempel 1 has made one of its close approaches to the Sun since then, so we will be able to compare before/after and actually see how a comet has changed during its orbit.
The picture above the fold is what Tempel 1 looked like during thatDeep Impact approach. I hope Kossacks will help by adding some steamy (snowy?) pix of this dalliance, as they come in overnight.