Tempel Poses Next to a Star

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This image shows comet Tempel 1 as seen by the Deep Impact spacecraft on June 19, 2005. It was taken using the clear filter of the spacecraft's medium resolution imager camera. The spacecraft was 13,341,692.5 kilometers (8,290,528 miles) away from the comet. Four images were combined together to create this picture, and a logarithmic stretch was applied to enhance the coma of the comet. The star to the right is six times brighter than the brightest pixel of the comet.

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD