Via Flickr:
Giotto was ESA’s first deep-space mission. In 1986, it passed closest to the nucleus of Comet Halley. Its images showed for the first time the shape of a comet nucleus and found the first evidence of organic material in a comet.
Giotto had a number of very impressive ‘firsts’ and achievements to its credit. It was Europe's first deep-space mission, it photographed the first close-up images of a comet nucleus and it discovered the size and shape of Halley's nucleus, showing that the surface is very dark and that bright jets of gas and dust spring out of its nucleus. It was also the first deep-space mission to change orbit by returning to Earth for a gravity-assist manoeuvre.
Giotto made the closest comet fly-by to date by any spacecraft (about 200 kilometres from Comet Grigg-Skjellerup in a second comet encounter) and studied the interaction between the solar wind, the interplanetary magnetic field, and the comet itself. This also made it the first spacecraft to encounter two comets and in doing so measure the size and composition of those two comets.
Launched on an Ariane 1, flight V14, Giotto lifted off from Europe's Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana on 2 July 1985. After a cruise phase of eight months, Giotto encountered Comet Halley on 14 March 1986.
For more information:
www.esa.int/esaSC/120392_index_0_m.html
Credit: ESA
Giotto was ESA’s first deep-space mission. In 1986, it passed closest to the nucleus of Comet Halley. Its images showed for the first time the shape of a comet nucleus and found the first evidence of organic material in a comet.
Giotto had a number of very impressive ‘firsts’ and achievements to its credit. It was Europe's first deep-space mission, it photographed the first close-up images of a comet nucleus and it discovered the size and shape of Halley's nucleus, showing that the surface is very dark and that bright jets of gas and dust spring out of its nucleus. It was also the first deep-space mission to change orbit by returning to Earth for a gravity-assist manoeuvre.
Giotto made the closest comet fly-by to date by any spacecraft (about 200 kilometres from Comet Grigg-Skjellerup in a second comet encounter) and studied the interaction between the solar wind, the interplanetary magnetic field, and the comet itself. This also made it the first spacecraft to encounter two comets and in doing so measure the size and composition of those two comets.
Launched on an Ariane 1, flight V14, Giotto lifted off from Europe's Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana on 2 July 1985. After a cruise phase of eight months, Giotto encountered Comet Halley on 14 March 1986.
For more information:
www.esa.int/esaSC/120392_index_0_m.html
Credit: ESA
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