From The Archives: A Crash Course In Comets

The Deep Impact impactor spacecraft scored a direct hit on Tempel 1 on July 4, (see page 28). The flyby craft took this picture 67 sec. after the strike with its high-resolution camera. 

The ejected material is illuminated by sunlight and is much brighter than the comet nucleus, which is darker than charcoal. The Deep Impact team includes NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and the University of Maryland 

See the cover of the July 11, 2005 issue. 

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