Astronomy Picture of the Day

Thirteen Seconds After Impact


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#76670 by @ 06.07.2005 00:00 - nach oben -
Thirteen Seconds After Impact


Explanation:

Fireworks came early on
July 4th
when, at 1:52am EDT, the
Deep
Impact
spacecraft's probe
smashed into the surface of Comet Tempel 1's nucleus
at ten kilometers per second.

The well-targeted impactor probe was vaporized as it
blasted out an expanding cloud of material,
seen
here 13 seconds
after the collision.

The image is part of a
stunning
series
of frames documenting the event from the
high resolution camera onboard the
flyby
spacecraft
.

Tempel 1's potato-shaped nucleus is approximately 5 kilometers
across as seen from this perspective.

Cameras onboard the
impactor
probe
were also able to
image the nucleus and impact site up-close ... until
about 3 seconds before the impact.

Of course, telescopes nearer to planet Earth
followed the event,
detecting a significant brightening of
comet Tempel 1.




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