Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.