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Space Science

Deep Impact Catches First Glimpse of Target Comet 67

Posted by timothy from the now-put-ben-affleck-into-the-torpedo-tube dept.
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."
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Deep Impact Catches First Glimpse of Target Comet More

Deep Impact Catches First Glimpse of Target Comet

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  • Intelligent Life on Temple 1? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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*

  • Only Cameras? (Score:2, Informative)

    by capt.Hij ( 318203 )

    The encounter, at roughly 23,000 mph, is expected to kick up dust and leave behind a large crater, though scientists don't know for sure just what will happen since they have never attempted anything like this before.

    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

    • Maybe they will use ground telescopes to observe the stuff that the impact kicks up?

    • Re:Only Cameras? (Score:2, Informative)

      by AgNO3 ( 878843 )
      Actually it is more like 6.3 miles for the last pics.

    • Re:Only Cameras? (Score:2, Informative)

      by kromozone ( 817261 )
      Most of the data is not going to come from the impactor but from the flyby spacecraft. The flyby craft will wait outside the comet's coma where it will be free from contact with dust or other matter ejected from the surface of the comet. The impactor's primary function is just to slam a big hole into the comet so the flyby spacecraft can get a peak inisde /reading comprehension
    • The impactor spacecraft (the one that hits the comet) has just a visible imager. The flyby spacecraft, on the other hand, has 2 visible and 2 IR imagers on board.
    • Even if there were no cameras or other instruments on board, data would be generated because the comet's orbit should be perturbed very slightly, something that would show up in future orbits.

      The data will be valuable if we are ever required to change a comet's orbit in a hurry, or even if we weren't in a hurry but knew that something would hit the earth in hundreds of years. Due to the long distances traveled, a slight change very early on expands into a much greater effect many years later. There would
    • According to TFA the closest approach for the observer is 300 miles.

  • A note about the name (Score:5, Interesting)

    by FleaPlus ( 6935 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @06:42AM (#12397256) Journal
    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 [go.com]:

    "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 [wikipedia.org] (on the mission, not the movie).
    • Nice. Now maybe you could explain why NASA is going to *coincidentally* create a bright light in the sky visible from parts of the US on Independence Day. That's one hell of a fireworks display.

      • Re:A note about the name (Score:5, Interesting)

        by cyclone96 ( 129449 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @09:36AM (#12397653)
        While I do not know for certain in this case (I do not work on Deep Impact), it certainly would not be out of character for NASA engineers to try to make this occur on July 4.

        I work on the Shuttle and Station programs. Occasionally, we need to dump water overboard for one reason or another. It's spectacular to see from the ground, and while there are some constraints as to when it needs to occur often times we simply pick an arbitrary time period within a window to actually execute the dump.

        You can be darn sure that, given the choice, we schedule it to occur over the continental United States with the proper lighting to see it for ourselves and watch the news pick it up! If the trajectory doesn't work out, we try to give Europe a show. It's not someone at Headquarters directing us to do it that way because it would be good PR, just a bunch of engineers that have found an interesting problem to work on.

        It's a beautiful thing to see, might as well let the public enjoy it.
      • Is it really going to be visible from the ground? According to these guys [deep-sky.co.uk]

        Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle 1998

        This faint comet, with a period just over 33 years, is at first glance not worth a second look. ...
        Visually Temple-Tuttle is very disappointing. It is faint and produces little dust so doesn't have a prominent tail and unless it passes very close to Earth it will be inconspicuous. In fact in its 1899 and 1932 perihelion it wasn't even seen at all.

        Now 1998+33=2031 so it's not anywhere near us right n

    • Re:A note about the name (Score:4, Funny)

      by ajs ( 35943 ) <{ajs} {at} {ajs.com}> on Sunday May 01, 2005 @08:46AM (#12397518) Homepage Journal
      The problem I have with the name of the Movie is the same one I have with the mission: it really sounds like a name that belongs on one of those pornos that rips off the basic premise of a movie, but somehow always ends up involving a delivery guy showing up to the wrong house....

  • Deep Impact? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 01, 2005 @06:43AM (#12397259)
    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.
    • from the now-put-the-torpedo-into-ben-affleck's-tube dept. wuold be much better.
    • 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

  • Personally I think... (Score:3, Funny)

    by vudufixit ( 581911 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @06:43AM (#12397264)
    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 [mosnews.com] 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.

  • Poke Poke (Score:4, Funny)

    by ghoda_x ( 808190 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @07:08AM (#12397319)
    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.
  • Impact scheduled for July 4, no less; who says American science cum colonialism is dead?

  • A drawing of the comet (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pease1 ( 134187 ) <bbunge@ladyandtr ... m minus language> on Sunday May 01, 2005 @07:40AM (#12397391)
    Last new moon, I made this visual visual drawing [ladyandtramp.com] of the comet using this telescope [ladyandtramp.com].
  • 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' ?

  • Amazing, but... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by fallendove ( 875598 )
    We should be spending this cash on another moon rocket.

  • "spacecraft has caught first sight of its quarry" (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    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.
  • I hope they don't make a mistake in their calculations and end up with the impactor orbiting the comet.
    • That would be pretty darn hard. Commets don't have much mass, so they don't have much gravity. Of course it could be done, but it is much more likely the thing would just go barreling past the comment, and with NASA's luck, directly into the surface of Mars.
  • Does anyone else think this mission will be the opening shot of an interplanetary war?
  • 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 [planetary.org].

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