title: Surface of young Jupiter family comet 81P/Wild 2: view from the Stardust Spacecraft.
abstract: Images taken by the Stardust mission during its flyby of 81P/Wild 2 show the comet to be a 5-kilometer oblate body covered with remarkable topographic features, including unusual circular features that appear to be impact craters. The presence of high-angle slopes shows that the surface is cohesive and self-supporting. The comet does not appear to be a rubble pile, and its rounded shape is not directly consistent with the comet being a fragment of a larger body. The surface is active and yet it retains ancient terrain. Wild 2 appears to be in the early stages of its degradation phase as a small volatile-rich body in the inner solar system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. brownlee@astro.washington.edu
authors.forename: Donald E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Brownlee
authors.forename: Friedrich
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Horz
authors.forename: Ray L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Newburn
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zolensky
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Duxbury
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sandford
authors.forename: Zdenek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sekanina
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tsou
authors.forename: Martha S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hanner
authors.forename: Benton C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Simon F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kissel
mesh_terms: D019443:Cosmic Dust; D005740:Gases; D019110:Meteoroids; D018531:Spacecraft; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D019443:Cosmic Dust; D005740:Gases; D014867:Water