Deep Impact mission successful!

misa.j

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Those wacky scientists made me smile.

About 12 hours after the barrel-sized Deep Impact space probe smashed into a comet half the size of Manhattan, scientists showed off dramatic, sci-fi-like images. Photos shot by the impactor probe as it awaited its suicidal collision revealed for the first time the surface of the comet Tempel 1 as it closed in at 23,000 mph.

The close-ups revealed not so much the pickle-shaped comet that scientists originally thought, but one that looked more like a potato, lumpy and pocked. Michael A'Hearn, an astronomer at the University of Maryland and Deep Impact principal investigator, likened it to a muffin or loaf of bread.

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Cool pictures from NASA site.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html
 
Speaking of Deep Impact, this story caught my attention:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050705/ap_on_fe_st/russia_comet_case

Upset with the recent mission, a Russian astrologer is apparently attempting to sue NASA for "ruining the natural balance of forces in the universe" and also for "deforming her horoscope", heheh... :)
 
Iron Chef said:
"ruining the natural balance of forces in the universe"
That's funny, honestly that was the first thing came to my mind when I heard about the Comet Buster.
It apparently posed no danger to the Earth, but still it kind of scares me a little.
I have a mixed feeling about this whole thing; I feel excited and sad at the same time.
 
I saw it all happen first hand! (well as first hand as you can get). There are members of the Cornell staff on the team and there was a HUGE get together at 12-3am EDT to view the impact on NASA's TV. It was amazing when the first picture came down! When they saw the first picture indicating impact, the science team in the control room said, "Mission control, order more peanuts." Hahaha, everyone started cheering immediately after. Whent hey started putting the pictures up on the viewscreen in the control room everyone was cheering even louder and going "oh my god it's huge!" and "wow!" and all sorts of other exclamations. It felt like I was watching a comedy for awhile because they kept showing footage of people cheering and not the picture! But once they finally showed us the picture everyone (the 400+ people packed into a lecture hall) pretty much repeated the scene at mission control: "wow" "oh my god!" ::applause::. It was very exciting. It was great getting to see the pictures immediately after they came in. It's great having an excellent astronomy department at your school too ;).
 
this was really cool. , i followed it on Cnn that morning!!! BOOM... nice nice... but when will we start living on the moon...

when was the last time that somebody stept on the moon? i think that is a reallyyyyyyyyyy long time ago isnt?
 

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