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Tempel 1 Impact Day After Tomorrow

Posted by Zonk on from the destruction-for-science dept.

TerminaMorte wrote to mention a news.com article detailing the impending contact of the "Deep Impact" satellite with the Tempel 1 comet...at roughly 23,000 miles per hour. from the article: "We know that the crust--the outside shell of a comet and the stuff that comes off a comet--is changed by the solar wind...One of the things that we're curious about is, some people will tell you that comets actually produce organic compounds...We want to see if that's inside." Update: 07/02 22:08 GMT by Z : Updated with correct day.

27 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. Cautious optimism... by cookiej · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, since this seems to be one of the first times we've gone out of our way to really put the wood to something not from Earth, let's hope Tempel 1 isn't some sort of cometary offspring whose mother will take offense and pulverize us.

    Just a thought.

    1. Re:Cautious optimism... by toddbu · · Score: 2, Informative

      I'm really excited about this. If you think about it, this is the first time in human history where we can really witness the interaction of a man-made object on a body in outer space. It would be kind of like looking at the Moon and being able to see the lunar landers sitting on the surface. That is, if you believe that we really went to the Moon. :-)

      --
      If you don't want crime to pay, let the government run it.
    2. Re:Cautious optimism... by Mr.+Bad+Example · · Score: 2, Funny

      > Well, since this seems to be one of the first times we've gone out of our way to really put the wood to something not from Earth

      That's only if you don't count all the times Captain Kirk nailed a green chick.

  2. Heavens Gate part II? by bigwavejas · · Score: 5, Funny
    "...some people will tell you that comets actually produce organic compounds...We want to see if that's inside."

    Hell yeah it's going to produce organic compounds! 10 bucks says the Heavens Gate Gang is riding shotgun in that badboy.

    http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/25/heavens.gate/

    --
    "Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
  3. My prediction by 2.7182 · · Score: 3, Funny

    It starts the first intergalactic war.

    1. Re:My prediction by Winkhorst · · Score: 2, Funny

      "It starts the first intergalactic war." Oh, is it from another galaxy?

      --
      "Is this Winkhorst a nova criminal?" "No just a technical sergeant wanted for interrogation."
  4. Germs by Alex+P+Keaton+in+da · · Score: 3, Funny

    I really hope that they decontaminate this before it ever comes back... Viruses are some of the simplest life forms, so it is more likely that there would be a virus than a humanoid alien... Who knows what havoc this could wreak.
    In all seriousness, hopefully this will give us a window into the creation of the universe, or maybe just the solar system.
    I have sort of an obsession with astronomy... I think my parents always thought my telescope was for peeping on the neighbor- "honest mom, the vaseline is for greasing the telescope....

    --
    And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
  5. Space.com by jazzman251 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here it is at http://www.space.com/deepimpact/

  6. Not tomorrow, but the day after by MoobY · · Score: 3, Informative

    In fact, Tempel 1 will impact on July 4th at 05:52 UTC

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    1. Re:Not tomorrow, but the day after by Shag · · Score: 5, Funny
      So you're saying Deep Impact happens on The Day After Tomorrow which is Independence Day?

      This seems scripted...

      --
      Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
    2. Re:Not tomorrow, but the day after by AndroidCat · · Score: 2, Funny

      And if the comet people get mad, followed by The Tempel of Doom.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  7. 2001 by writermike · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "My God. It's full of stars."

    --
    If Nalgene water bottles are outlawed, only outlaws will have Nalgene water bottles.
  8. Bets anyone? by LouisZepher · · Score: 5, Funny

    Given the failed Mars projects, who wants to place bets that this plan to intentionally crash the probe will result in a safe "three-point" landing?

  9. Re:So will I be able to see this in the north east by Shag · · Score: 5, Informative
    The impact? No.

    But if you wanted to try to see it pre-impact, you'd look (with a telescope or binoculars - it shouldn't be naked-eye) near Spica in the constellation Virgo; the comet will be near it, in the direction of Arcturus in the constellation Bootes.

    If you have no idea where Spica and Arcturus are... find the Big Dipper. Follow the curve of its handle, and look across the sky a ways for a bright kinda yellowish star. That's Arcturus. Then look about that far again for a bright bluish star. That's Spica.

    Or, get yourself on a flight to Maui ASAP and head over to Maui Community College, where a bunch of us will be doing a public outreach program featuring things like NASA people, live video links to observatories on Mauna Kea and Haleakala, and so on and so forth. And freebies. :)

    I've only been involved with DI-related stuff for 10 months (as a telescope operator, and now for outreach) but some folks I work with have been on this for the better part of 10 years, so I hope everything goes well!

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  10. Sounds familiar... by MalusCaelestis · · Score: 4, Funny
    One of the things that we're curious about is, some people will tell you that comets actually produce organic compounds...We want to see if that's inside.
    So this is, what, the most expensive episode of MythBusters ever?
  11. It's NASA by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 4, Funny

    >> roughly 23,000 miles per hour

    It's NASA we're talking about here folks. The smart money says they ruin the experiment by only smashing into the comet at 23,000 kilometers an hour.

    1. Re:It's NASA by MyLongNickName · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Metric hours or imperial hours?

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      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  12. Been done before by localroger · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Apollo moon missions were observed telescopically by both amateur and professional astronomers. A terrestrial observatory even provided critical tracking information for Apollo 13's final course correction.

    --
    Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
  13. Redneck Scientists by Eclypser · · Score: 5, Funny

    Government scientists say the price tag is worth it. "One, we'll learn about comets," said NASA's Wessen. "Two, we'll learn about how that applies to the Earth, whether it brought organic material to the Earth...We can even learn, if a comet was coming our way, what it would take to deflect one of those things."
    "Three, we get to blow sh*t up, YEEE HAAAAA"

    --
    The comment has already been made. Let's move it along people. Nothing to see here.
  14. Re:You humans are so arrogant! by JuliusRV · · Score: 3, Informative

    Protons can't escape from stars, silly. All the tons of gravity would get in the way.

    He wrote "photons". And even protons escape stars. Did you ever hear of solar wind?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_wind

  15. Re:Not really 23,000 miles an hour by imsabbel · · Score: 2, Informative

    thats the whole point!
    It has the relative velocity, just to smash a reall big hole into it. The analysation will be done from safe distance using spectroscopy.

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    HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
  16. Countdown counter by rbarreira · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here it is

    I hope it's correct :)

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    The AACS key is NOT 0xF606EEFD628B1CA427BEA93A9CA9773F
  17. Re:Not really 23,000 miles an hour by Cruithne · · Score: 2, Informative

    23,000 mph *is* the relative velocity of the comet and the probe. Useful science can and frequently does occur from smashing things together or big explosions - see the fields of cosmology, astronomy, and particle physics.

  18. Re:Not really 23,000 miles an hour by jswhitten · · Score: 4, Informative
    23,000 miles per hour is the relative velocity.

    http://www.spaceflightnow.com/deepimpact/050628mis sion.html

    Both the Deep Impact spacecraft and comet Tempel 1 are in their own unique orbits around the Sun. However, the comet is traveling substantially faster (29.9 kilometers per second (66,880 miles per hour)) than the spacecraft (21.9 kilometers per second (48,990 miles per hour)). ... the comet actually runs over it at a relative velocity of 10.3 kilometers per second (about 23,000 miles per hour).
    --
    -Jed
  19. the creamy center by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mmmm.... organic compounds....

  20. Organic = Carbon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Organic compounds means compounds of Carbon... Not living tissue.

  21. Re:So will I be able to see this in the north east by Phroon · · Score: 2, Informative

    Since when was Magnitude 10 easily binocular visible? Maybe if your at a really really dark site and know exactly where to look, but most people won't match these conditions. However, if it does jump up to Mag 6 as predicted, some people in rural locations might see it naked eye and it would be an easy target for binoculars.