Suisei

Halley’s Comet

• 
  In Halley’s Comet

  …two Japanese spacecraft (Sakigake and Suisei), two Soviet spacecraft (Vega 1 and Vega 2), and a European Space Agency spacecraft (Giotto) that passed only 596 km [370 miles] from the comet’s nucleus. Close-up images of the nucleus obtained by Giotto showed a dark potato-shaped object with dimensions of about 15…

  Read More
• 
  In comet: Spacecraft exploration of comets

  …consisted of two Japanese spacecraft, Suisei and Sakigake (Japanese for “comet” and “pioneer,” respectively); two Soviet spacecraft, Vega 1 and 2 (a contraction of Venus-Halley using Cyrillic spelling); and an ESA spacecraft, Giotto (named after the Italian painter who depicted the Star of Bethlehem as a comet in a fresco…

  Read More
• 
  In comet: Spacecraft exploration of comets

  Suisei flew by Halley on March 8, 1986, at a distance of 151,000 km (94,000 miles) on the sunward side and produced ultraviolet images of the comet’s hydrogen corona, an extension of the visible coma seen only in ultraviolet light. It also measured the energetic…

  Read More