Preposterous Universe

 
Deep Impact

Here I am, a fully credentialed professional scientist, and I get my cool science tips from BlondeSense. I did know that the NASA probe Deep Impact is scheduled to collide with the comet Tempel 1 early in the morning of July 4th (or late at night on the 3rd, depending on your local time zone). But I didn't know there'd be a webcast. Don't expect smooth high-resolution video, but you can get images updated every 45 seconds from Kitt Peak, or watch NASA TV.



I won't be watching in real time, as I'll be winging my way over the Atlantic Ocean from Chicago to Paris at the moment of collision, about 12:52 a.m. Central Time on July 4th. You feel sorry for me, I know.

By the way, are the folks at NASA public-relations geniuses, or what? Not only do they schedule the impact for Independence Day, but they've made a CD with the names of 650,000 people who signed up for the Send Your Name to a Comet campaign. A copy of the CD is on the spacecraft, and will smash into the comet along with the rest of it. Brilliant. If only they would use their powers for good.

~ posted by Sean Carroll at 11:01 AM ~ link ~ ~ ~