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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Deep Impact Captured

This Jan. 13 photograph was taken by Mt Palomar's 200-inch telescope as the Deep Impact spacecraft was at a distance of about 260,000 kilometers (163,000 miles) from Earth and moving at a speed of about 16,000 kilometers per hour (10,000 miles per hour). The high speed of the spacecraft causes it to appear as a long streak across the sky in the constellation Virgo during the 10-minute exposure time of the image.

The spacecraft will travel to comet Tempel 1 and release an impactor, creating a crater on the surface of the comet. Scientists believe the exposed materials may give clues to the formation of our solar system.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Advance Fireworks Shoot from Comet NASA Will Hit

A comet that will be whacked by a NASA probe next week almost looks like its having some pre-impact jitters, flaring up in a new picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The image shows a plume of gas and dust shooting out from comet Tempel 1. The plume does not appear in another photo taken a few hours earlier.

The outburst is normal for a comet, said Paul Feldman, a Johns Hopkins University astronomer who led the observations. It likely originates from a crack in the comet's crusty shell, which releases volatile material from below.

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Shows promise for a burst of activity when it hits. Perhaps it's quite brittle.

[Maddad]

That 16,000 kilometers per hour speed is what it's currently at from falling in towards the Sun. Although at it's present distance it's still plenty cold, some of those volitles become gaseous at barely over absolute zero.

An interesting thought is that the impact speed equates to kinetic energy, whith should impart enough heat to drive a massive eruption.