The Week in SpaceJune 28 - July 4, 2010
Fourth of July Blast Five years ago this week, NASA pulled off a celestial fireworks show unlike any Independence Day celebration in history. The Deep Impact probe, launched in January 2005, was designed to study the composition of a comet by intentionally crashing an impactor probe into the nucleus of Comet Tempel while the main spacecraft observed from a safe distance. As it approached the comet’s nucleus, the impactor took a series of images that have been compiled in this mosaic. The image resolution is highest near the impact site, between the two circular craters in the bottom half of the five-mile-high nucleus. The impact created a crater over 600 feet in diameter and 90-150 feet deep, and the explosion was witnessed not only by the Deep Impact spacecraft, but also by Earth-based telescopes. Image credit: NASA / JPL / UMD Weekly CalendarJune 28 - July 4, 2010Holidays - Sky Events - Space History
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