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Deep Impact Catches First Glimpse of Target Comet
smooth wombat writes "The BBC has a story, with pics and diagrams, showing the first image of comet Temple Tuttle 1 taken by the Deep Impact spacecraft. (Secondary link from Wired News) The Deep Impact spacecraft is to rendezvous with the comet on July 4th and impact the comet in an attempt to learn more about how comets are formed and possibly more insight into how the solar system was formed. A camera on the impactor will allow scientists to examine the surface of Tempel 1 in greater detail than ever before. Depending on how much dust hits the camera's lens, scientists should be able to see photos up until a second before impact. If that's the case, the photos will reveal objects as small as 8 inches in width. The photos will immediately be relayed to the main Deep Impact spacecraft and then down to Earth."
I imagine if there is, they will have a similar look on their faces as a soccer player right before he takes a ball to the face. But I digress... fifty bucks says now that NASA wants to crash, they wont.
*ducks*
I couldn't find anything in either article about the instrementation other than that they have cameras. Is that the only thing they've got? If so, then an image won't be able to do anything than generate more questions and add little insight. Besides, at these speeds they will be something like 1/2 mile out when the last picture is taken.
Because there's inevitably comments about the mission's name (which is the same as that of a Hollywood movie) whenever this is on slashdot, I figured I'd try to nip it in the bud. From this article:
"The scientists came up with the Deep Impact name independently of the movie studio, around the same time, neither knowing the other was choosing it, even though some members of NASA's Deep Impact team were consultants on the picture."
For those seeking more info, here's the Wikipedia article (on the mission, not the movie).
from the now-put-ben-affleck-into-the-torpedo-tube dept.
Well I guess that's better than the:
from the now-put-the-torpedo-tube-into-ben-affleck dept.
The satalite is going to eject a probe and have it slam into the comet, and we only get a measly 8-inch resolution? After the millions of dollars of investment and weeks and maybe months of number-crunching to get the trajectories down pat... Why only 8 inches? That's like trying to find out about a super-sonic aircraft mid-flight and getting only a glimpse of the logo on the side or the naked woman on the nosecone.
But of course, this is all based on the idea that we can catch a large ball of ice 3 UI away and analyze it. I mean... look at Jupiter. It tried to catch Hale-Bop (Or was it Shoemaker?) and got a rather large hole blown in the side of it (The size of the earth, last time I checked). Irony tells me that the probe will divert the comet and send it ripping our way.
*ducks*
This probe is going to do a far better job than the "Armageddon" probe they're sending up next year.
Any impact yet on this pending legal case: the story I find myself wondering who the "In fact, he says, there are a number of scientists there [in the US] who would be glad to sue NASA.
The last photo will show an alien looking upwards with its life flashing before its eyes.
liqbase
Kid: "Hmmm, that slug looks interesting. I think I'll poke it with this stick."
Scientist: "Hmmm, that comet looks interesting. I think I'll run into it with this camera."
I guess scientists are big kids with better sticks.
Give me but one firm spot on which to stand, and I will move the earth.
- Archimedes
Impact scheduled for July 4, no less; who says American science cum colonialism is dead?
You mispelled Bruce Willis btw.
Jonathanjk.com
...now I can't get the opening theme to Deep Space 9 out of my head.
Last new moon, I made this visual visual drawing of the comet using this telescope.
From the summary, "The Deep Impact spacecraft is to rendezvous with the comet..."
By 'rendezvous', do they mean 'smash into it really hard and fast' ?
We should be spending this cash on another moon rocket.
Think about the opening scene to DS9: Classical music, a comet swishes by, wormholes, blah, blah.
Com'mon mods, you call yourselves geeks!?
Closer examination the surface revealed what looks to be a 1950s British police box, a pompous man wearing a flamboyant scarf and a dimwitted sidekick getting vaporized.
This will make the world's most AWESOME fireworks display on July 4th.
Derive Politics
The Chinese are aggressively attempting to weaponize space. One of their projects is implementing a space-based anti-ICBM system.
Beware of the Chinese ogre.
I hope they don't make a mistake in their calculations and end up with the impactor orbiting the comet.
Does anyone else think this mission will be the opening shot of an interplanetary war?
Little do we realize, but top military scientists have verified that a comet is speeding towards us at this time and will hit us in 3 years, leading to a mass extinction event. In preparation for sending nuclear weapons to collide with the comet, NASA sends Deep Impact to test and perfect the process of colliding with a comet.
In Soviet NASA, Earthlings impact COMET!
Does this involves the use of gerbils or other small fury creatures?
A cosmonaut called Vladimir
Kept a cageful of gerbils on Mir
With some nanotubes and some twine
He had a fine time
With an experiment called Richard's Gear.
. . . . ©aqk 1998
.
- aqk
F U
Are you sure we have hundreds of years to get this right? There was a little item in the BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2147879. stm about this.
For fun!--- "The Planetary Society invites you to make your best guess on how big the hole will be when NASA's Deep Impact mission releases an impactor projectile in the path of Comet Tempel 1..." -- http://planetary.org/deepimpact.