46P/Wirtanen
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46P/Wirtanen is a small Jupiter-family comet with a current orbital period of 5.4 years. It was the original target for close investigation by the Rosetta spacecraft, planned by the European Space Age
Comet 46P/Wirtanen photographed in the southern hemisphere, from Balcarce, Argentina.
Hyakutake Color
In December 2018, comet 46P/Wirtanen passed within 11.6 million kilometres of the Earth.
Comet Hopper
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Comet Hopper was a proposed lander to NASA's Discovery Program that, had it been selected, would have orbited and landed multiple times on Comet Wirtanen as it approached the Sun. The proposed mission
46P/Wirtanen
…worldwide observing campaign was organized to capitalize on the favorable circumstances of the 2018 apparition. The comet was the target for the proposed Comet Hopper mission, which reached the finalist stage in the NASA Discovery program. It was one of only three missions in that selection to have a more detailed…
Concept art of Comet Hopper
Pluto in True Color High Res