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comet Hallie is making its regular 76

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year pilgrimage around our Sun as it has

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been doing for countless centuries the

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comet is the target of study for five

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exploratory spacecraft from Europe Japan

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and the Soviet Union

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each quizzing by the giant snowball of

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ice gas and dust from different vantage

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points the European Space Agency's

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Giotto spacecraft will be the most

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daring probe by taking a flight path

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just 300 miles in front of the Comets

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head Johto hopes to photograph the

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comet's nucleus to other highly

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instrumented Soviet spacecraft Vega 1

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and Vega 2 are scheduled to fly by the

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comet at a distance of six thousand

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miles hoping also to obtain images of

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the comet's nucleus lastly two japanese

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spacecraft studying halle our planet aid

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which approaches the Sun would side of

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Halle at a distance of 120 thousand

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miles and Sakigake which will pass about

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4 million miles from the comet a list of

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other American spacecraft slated for

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study of the comet includes Astro one

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the Spartan Valley platform both will be

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maintained by the Space Shuttle the

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solar maximum mission satellite pioneer

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Venus and the International cometary

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Explorer in order to get the best use

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out of all the research being done on

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amateur and professional astronomers

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from 47 different countries have joined

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forces the Howey encounter is a

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once-in-a-lifetime chance to study one

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of the most primitive objects in our

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solar system a program dedicated to

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visiting some of the planets in our

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solar system with two unmanned probes

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has had a history of success ever since

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its beginning in 1977 Voyager 1 and

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Voyager 2 were both launched now having

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logged nearly 2 billion miles in space

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since 1977 Voyager 2 will point its

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sensors and TV cameras at a planet we

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have never seen up close Uranus Voyager

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project scientist dr. Edward stone

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in

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Pasadena California well there are

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several unique things about Uranus first

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of all it's the most remote planet that

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we will we will have visited in the

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Solar System it formed in a much colder

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region of the solar nebula and therefore

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is made of different materials than

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either Jupiter or Saturn so we will be

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studying the different properties of

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Uranus and its satellites the other

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interesting thing about Uranus is that

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it's tipped over on its side with its

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spin axis at this time basically

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pointing at the Sun so it's it has a

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much different orientation with respect

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to the Sun many questions will be

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answered during the encounter before the

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tiny one-ton spacecraft ventures even