Jupiter-Family Comets

The bilobed Jupiter-family comet orbited and landed on by ESA's Rosetta and Philae in 2014–2016 — the most closely studied comet in history.

A large near-Earth object on a comet-like orbit long suspected to be a dormant comet; faint carbon-dioxide activity was detected in 2013, suggesting it is not fully extinct.

A Jupiter-family comet whose bowling-pin-shaped nucleus was imaged by NASA's Deep Space 1 in 2001.

The comet with the shortest known orbital period (about 3.3 years) and the parent of the Taurid meteor stream.

A Jupiter-family comet, parent of the Draconid meteor shower, and the first comet ever visited by a spacecraft — NASA's ICE probe flew through its tail in 1985.

A Jupiter-family comet visited by ESA's Giotto in 1992 during its extended mission, after Giotto's earlier encounter with Halley.

A small, hyperactive Jupiter-family comet flown past by NASA's EPOXI mission (the repurposed Deep Impact spacecraft) in 2010.

A Jupiter-family comet that began fragmenting in 1995 and has since broken into dozens of pieces — a rare chance to watch a comet disintegrate over successive returns.

A Jupiter-family comet struck by NASA's Deep Impact probe in 2005 and later revisited by Stardust, revealing the composition beneath a comet's crust.

A Jupiter-family comet from which NASA's Stardust captured coma dust and returned it to Earth in 2006 — the first cometary sample return.