Valentines Day Pictures

Stardust approach the comet on Valentine Day, taking pictures of devastation left by NASA's Deep Impact mission of 2005.

It's not exactly young love, but some might find it romantic. On Valentine's Day, an aging Lothario that has been flitting from beauty to beauty through the solar system will make his final stop, taking images of a battered dowager to send to the folks back home before disappearing forever.

The Stardust spacecraft, which has already taken images of asteroid Annefrank and captured interstellar dust from comet Wild 2, on Monday night will swing by comet Tempel 1. There, it will take new pictures of the devastation wrought on the comet by NASA's 2005 Deep Impact mission.

In that historic encounter 6 years ago, the Deep Impact spacecraft released an 820-pound probe that crashed into Tempel 1 at 23,000 mph, sending a luminous plume of debris into space and allowing researchers to determine what the comet was made of. There was so much debris, in fact, that the spacecraft could not get a clear look at the impact crater.

Saint Valentine's Day February 14

Saint Valentine's Day universally know to Valentine's Day is an annual memorial held on February 14 celebrate love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was recognized by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious ceremony is still permitted. It is usually a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became related with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourish. Modern Valentine's Day symbols love, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid. Since the 19th century, handwritten valentines have mainly given way to mass-produced greeting cards