What is 81P/Wild?
{{Infobox Comet | name=81P/Wild | image=[[File:Comet wild 2 craters.jpg|250px|Enhanced image from the [[Stardust (spacecraft)|Stardust]] spacecraft]] | caption=Enhanced image from the [[Stardust (spacecraft)|Stardust]] spacecraft | discoverer=[[Paul Wild (Swiss astronomer)|Paul Wild]] | discovery_date=1978 | designations=1978 XI; 1984 XIV;<br/>1990 XXVIII | epoch=March 6, 2006 | semimajor=3.45 [[Astronomical Unit|AU]] | perihelion=1.592 AU | aphelion=5.308 AU | eccentricity=0.5384 | period=6.408 [[Julian year (astronomy)|a]] | inclination= 3.2394° | last_p=September 25, 2003 | next_p=2010 }} Comet '''81P/Wild''', also known as '''Wild 2''', is a [[comet]] named after [[Switzerland|Swiss]] astronomer [[Paul Wild (Swiss astronomer)|Paul Wild]] (pronounced ''Vilt''), who discovered it in 1978. It is believed that for most of its 4.5 billion-year lifetime, Wild 2 had a more distant and circular [[orbit]]. In 1974, it passed within only about one million kilometers of the planet [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]], whose strong gravitational pull altered the comet's orbit and brought it into the inner [[solar system]]. Its [[orbital period]] changed from 40 years to about 6 years, and its [[perihelion]] is now about 1.59 AU ([[astronomical unit]]). == Gallery == <gallery> File:Comet wild 2 craters.jpg|Photograph taken by Stardust spacecraft File:Comet wild 2 jet plumes.jpg|Details of the plume jets File:Comet Wild2 Anaglyph.jpg|Red/green stereo anaglyph File:Comet_Wild2.jpg|Stardust Approach Image File:Comet wild 2.jpg| </gallery> == Other websites == * [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/news/J06-005.html NASA Team Analyzes Stardust Particle Capture] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080309065927/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stardust/news/J06-005.html |date=2008-03-09 }} January 18, 2006 * [http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html NASA/JPL homepage for Stardust project] * [http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu Stardust@Home Volunteer Particle Analysis Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.