A flyby of a comet went off flawlessly on Thursday morning, giving giddy scientists only their fifth close-up look at the nucleus of a comet.

NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft passed within 435 miles of Comet Hartley 2. People at mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., cheered when the signal from the spacecraft came in.

Photos from the closest approach showed rays of gas and dust shooting off its surface from the ends, which were rough in texture, while the surface of the center section was smooth.

First black chief justice nominated in Mass.

BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick, newly elected to a second term, nominated Justice Roderick Ireland on Thursday to be the first black chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Patrick called Ireland, an associate justice on the court since 1997, one of the state’s “wisest and most experienced jurists.” If confirmed by the Governor’s Council, an elected board, he will replace Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, who is retiring.

Before Ireland was appointed to the court by Gov. William Weld, a Republican, he served on the Massachusetts Appeals Court and the Boston Juvenile Court.

Patrick, a Democrat, has already appointed two justices to the seven-member court, Margot Botsford in 2007 and Ralph Gants in 2008. Ireland’s confirmation would allow Patrick to appoint a third.