The Nucleus of Comet 1P/Halley

The above image was taken by the Halley Multicolor Camera aboard the Giotto spacecraft as it zoomed by comet Halley on March 14th at just over 40 miles per second (= 144,000 miles per hour!). The direction to the Sun is to the left and into the page, which means that this view shows primarily the ``dark side'' of the nucleus. The brightest spots are due to dust jets emanating from a few active regions on the surface. About 80% of the surface seems to be coated with a mantle of dust, which prevents significant ejection of dust.

Credit: The Halley Multicolor Camera Team