New pictures from Deep Impact up at NASA website.

[Arlos]

Composite movie from the probe's still pictures as it approaches the comet:
http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121572main_its_approach_inv.mov


Picture from impactor probe from 5 minutes before impact



Picture from impactor probe from 90 seconds before impact



Picture from impactor probe from 60 seconds before impact



Picture from the impactor probe from 20 seconds before impact.



Picture from the orbiter 67 seconds after the probe impacted.



More pictures and data can be found HERE: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

Very cool shit.

-Arlos

[Ganzo]

cool its black and white pictures of a big rock, exactly how i thought rock in space would look like

[Drem]

how does it form smooth on the flat spots with higher surfaces being rough? that's crazy if comets are in fact layered objects

[Arlos]

That's just it, Ganzo, it's not a rock, it's a comet. It's a collection of dust and ice, along with frozen gasses. These are the closest and most detailed pictures we've ever had of a comet, since the ones closest enough for us to see well are close enough to the sun to be massively outgassing, which obscures the view completely.

From this impact, we saw a lot less water vapor than we thought we would, and found that the dust grains that made up the surface area were as small and as fine as those in talcum powder. So, it tells us a lot about how comets (or at least that one) were formed, what they're made of, but also raises entirely new questions, like, "Why isn't there more water?" etc. We may get more answers once the dust cloud from the impact fades more, right now it's obscuring the crater the impactor probe made. Be great to be able to see down inside the actual cometary body, to the stuff that formed there 5 billion years ago when the solar system was new, instead of possibly newer dust on the surface, etc.

-Arlos

[kaharthemad]

I agree Arlos, this is some amazing stuff. Any specualtion what we wil see afterward?

[mofish]

That's just it, Ganzo, it's not a rock, it's a comet. It's a collection of dust and ice, along with frozen gasses. These are the closest and most detailed pictures we've ever had of a comet, since the ones closest enough for us to see well are close enough to the sun to be massively outgassing, which obscures the view completely.

From this impact, we saw a lot less water vapor than we thought we would, and found that the dust grains that made up the surface area were as small and as fine as those in talcum powder. So, it tells us a lot about how comets (or at least that one) were formed, what they're made of, but also raises entirely new questions, like, "Why isn't there more water?" etc. We may get more answers once the dust cloud from the impact fades more, right now it's obscuring the crater the impactor probe made. Be great to be able to see down inside the actual cometary body, to the stuff that formed there 5 billion years ago when the solar system was new, instead of possibly newer dust on the surface, etc.

-Arlos

Why even bother explaining. Some people just dont get it, will never get it, dont want to get it.

[Tikker]

still hard to believe they hit it


it's like being able to shoot a fast ball with a bb gun

[kaharthemad]

more like a bullet with a bb gun

[mappatazee]

more like a bullet with a bb gun