zippyjuan
07-04-2005, 12:20 AM
Nasa probe strikes Comet Tempel 1
One of the first images to come through from the Deep Impact spacecraft
US space agency (Nasa) scientists are celebrating after seeing a probe crash into the heart of a comet.
The washing machine-sized 372kg "impactor" collided with Comet Tempel 1 right on cue just after 0550 GMT, to throw up a huge plume of icy debris.
The 37,000km/h impact was expected to create a large crater in the comet.
The probe's mothership, the Deep Impact spacecraft, watched from a safe distance, sending images back to Earth.
Comets - giant "dirty snowballs", as some have called them - are believed to contain materials that have remained largely unchanged since the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.
Animated guide: Deep Impact
Scientists hope that by getting "under the skin" of comet Tempel 1, they can gain new information on the Solar System's original composition and perhaps even how life emerged in our corner of the Universe.
Dr Don Yeomans, a Deep Impact mission scientist, was ecstatic: "We hit it just exactly where we wanted to.
"The impact was bigger than I expected, and bigger than most of us expected. We've got all the data we could possibly ask for."
And Dr Charles Elachi, director of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has overseen the mission, added. "From the beginning, I said this was one of the most daring missions and now we have success," he said.
"We are in the business of opening new frontiers in the exploration of space. When we analyse the data, we will have a whole new insight into the Universe."
Delight at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The collision occurred some 133 million km from Earth.
Scientists around the world were watching the show, using a range of different telescopes and detectors.
Some of the biggest and most expensive instruments were deployed, including the Hubble space observatory and the world's largest optical telescope facility, the VLT in Chile.
UK planetary scientist Dr Monica Grady, from London's Natural History Museum, watched a feed of the Deep Impact images sent down to Earth.
"It's absolutely fantastic to see this," she said. "Before we knew so little about the comet nucleus; we had little idea of what the surface looked like.
"We now have these high-resolution images and can compare this crater against natural ones. We're going to get so much out of this."
One of the first images to come through from the Deep Impact spacecraft
US space agency (Nasa) scientists are celebrating after seeing a probe crash into the heart of a comet.
The washing machine-sized 372kg "impactor" collided with Comet Tempel 1 right on cue just after 0550 GMT, to throw up a huge plume of icy debris.
The 37,000km/h impact was expected to create a large crater in the comet.
The probe's mothership, the Deep Impact spacecraft, watched from a safe distance, sending images back to Earth.
Comets - giant "dirty snowballs", as some have called them - are believed to contain materials that have remained largely unchanged since the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.
Animated guide: Deep Impact
Scientists hope that by getting "under the skin" of comet Tempel 1, they can gain new information on the Solar System's original composition and perhaps even how life emerged in our corner of the Universe.
Dr Don Yeomans, a Deep Impact mission scientist, was ecstatic: "We hit it just exactly where we wanted to.
"The impact was bigger than I expected, and bigger than most of us expected. We've got all the data we could possibly ask for."
And Dr Charles Elachi, director of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has overseen the mission, added. "From the beginning, I said this was one of the most daring missions and now we have success," he said.
"We are in the business of opening new frontiers in the exploration of space. When we analyse the data, we will have a whole new insight into the Universe."
Delight at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The collision occurred some 133 million km from Earth.
Scientists around the world were watching the show, using a range of different telescopes and detectors.
Some of the biggest and most expensive instruments were deployed, including the Hubble space observatory and the world's largest optical telescope facility, the VLT in Chile.
UK planetary scientist Dr Monica Grady, from London's Natural History Museum, watched a feed of the Deep Impact images sent down to Earth.
"It's absolutely fantastic to see this," she said. "Before we knew so little about the comet nucleus; we had little idea of what the surface looked like.
"We now have these high-resolution images and can compare this crater against natural ones. We're going to get so much out of this."