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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Hubble Telescope to View Comet Collision

The Hubble Space Telescope will be watching when the University of Maryland's Deep Impact space probe crashes into a comet July 4, setting off a cosmic firework that may be visible on Earth.

The best view is expected to be had by the Deep Impact probe itself, but officials at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which coordinates Hubble's use, say they are ready for anything.

Hubble was also trained on the collision of comet Shoemaker Levy and Jupiter in 1994 and ``had those great results. We're hoping well see something similar,'' Gundy said.

While the Shoemaker Levy collision was the first collision of two solar system bodies ever observed, if all goes well, the Deep Impact mission will mark the first time a spacecraft has struck a comet.

More here from Space.com: space.com/scienceastronomy/ap_hubble_impact_050611.html
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Considering that every moment of the Hubble is reserved for research, I wonder who got bumped in order to catch the event.

This should be a good one!...

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Rosetta Set to Watch Deep Impact

(Jun 20, 2005) When NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft smashes into Comet Tempel 1 in about 2 weeks, every instrument on Earth and in space will be watching carefully. One spacecraft, the European Space Agency's Rosetta, was built to visit a different comet, so it has a suite of instruments designed for this very job. Rosetta will be 80 million km (50 million miles) away from the comet when it collides with Deep Impact, and will watch the resulting puff of debris in various wavelengths.

More here: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/rosetta_set_deep_impact.html?2062005
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Diffrent angles should give us all great views of the event.