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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
An international armada of spacecraft encountered Comet Halley in March 1986. The present article gives a brief overview of this unique event during which a cometary nucleus was seen as a spatially resolved object for the first time. It is a very dark body, the shape is irregular and the structure is inhomogeneous; only the sunward side is active. Many parent molecules were identified in the coma, including complicated hydrocarbons. There was also organic matter in the comet dust particles. Extensive studies were made of the complicated plasma environment of the comet.