Watch the virgin get nailed.
NASA lit the fuse on the Deep Impact spacecraft last January, sending the $200 million Roman Candle high into the night sky on a mission few believed possible just 10 years ago. After clearing Earth's orbit, Twiggy and Dr. Theopolis set the cruise control at 64,000 miles per hour and settled in for a six-month road trip. Their destination? Comet Tempel 1 that's currently on a south-southeast course through the constellation of Virgo, the Virgin. Their objective? To smash into it with enough force to produce an explosion large enough to be seen from your backyard that'll have you mumbling "huh, so that's what cosmic sex looks like".
This is the first actual image taken of Comet Tempel 1 by the Deep Impact spacecraft after launch. It's a relatively small and faint comet; it lacks the characteristic ponytail like Hale-Bopp, Haley's or Perez in high school.
The plan goes something like this: find the speeding bullet, get close to the speeding bullet and then hit the speeding bullet with one of your own. On July 3rd (that's in two weeks), the Deep Impact spacecraft will fire a washing machine-sized copper "impactor" designed to smash into the comet's nucleus at 23,000 miles per hour on July 4th. Talk about the rocket's red glare...
The ensuing stellar car wreck should expel an ever-increasing cloud of ice, dust and gas into the neighborhood. By analyzing the blown-out debris and the crater itself, scientists hope to gain new insights into both comets and the genesis of your solar system.
Now before you fire up the grill and tap the keg for a "Come Watch The Death Star Explode" party, know this: the actual impact will fall well short of the fireworks display in Hardtner, KS. Although Comet Tempel 1 is currently visible with a telescope after dark looming low in the soutwestern sky in the constellation Virgo, it's still somewhat difficult to see. For sky watchers, only those in the far western zip codes will be positioned to see the comet during impact. For everyone else fortunate enough to live outside California, it will have sunk below the horizon and out of view. In BDS time, the Big Hit will occur between 12:40 a.m. and 1:35 a.m. on July 4th. The exact time of impact hasn't been set yet, but it doesn't matter much anyway. You won't be able to see it.
However, we should be able to see the skid marks, broken glass and deployed airbags of the collision on subsequent evenings. Comet Tempel 1's brightness is currently a faint, hard-to-see 9th magnitude, but NASA expects that brightness to flare up to a 6th or even 5th magnitude after impact (a lower number denotes a brighter star). That'll put it right on the edge of naked-eye visibility. No one knows just how long any enhanced brightness will last, so go outside in a few weeks to see what you can of this monumental event before it's gone.
So how do you do that? Find the Big Dipper, Boy Scout. It's in the norhtern portion of your sky. Now follow the arc of the Dipper's handle away from the "pan". The first bright star you'll come to is Arcturis in the constellation Bootes (no, not Loch's old dog). Then just continue that arc on to the next bright star that's called Spica. At the time of impact, the comet will be about 3.5 degrees from Spica (3.5 degrees is about three and a half finger widths). If possible, put down the beer and pick up a pair of binoculars or, better yet, stick your eyeball behind a telescope. It'll make the hunt much easier and more rewarding.
Or you could just sit your lazy ass in front of the TV watching history instead of experiencing it.
This is the first actual image taken of Comet Tempel 1 by the Deep Impact spacecraft after launch. It's a relatively small and faint comet; it lacks the characteristic ponytail like Hale-Bopp, Haley's or Perez in high school.
The plan goes something like this: find the speeding bullet, get close to the speeding bullet and then hit the speeding bullet with one of your own. On July 3rd (that's in two weeks), the Deep Impact spacecraft will fire a washing machine-sized copper "impactor" designed to smash into the comet's nucleus at 23,000 miles per hour on July 4th. Talk about the rocket's red glare...
The ensuing stellar car wreck should expel an ever-increasing cloud of ice, dust and gas into the neighborhood. By analyzing the blown-out debris and the crater itself, scientists hope to gain new insights into both comets and the genesis of your solar system.
Now before you fire up the grill and tap the keg for a "Come Watch The Death Star Explode" party, know this: the actual impact will fall well short of the fireworks display in Hardtner, KS. Although Comet Tempel 1 is currently visible with a telescope after dark looming low in the soutwestern sky in the constellation Virgo, it's still somewhat difficult to see. For sky watchers, only those in the far western zip codes will be positioned to see the comet during impact. For everyone else fortunate enough to live outside California, it will have sunk below the horizon and out of view. In BDS time, the Big Hit will occur between 12:40 a.m. and 1:35 a.m. on July 4th. The exact time of impact hasn't been set yet, but it doesn't matter much anyway. You won't be able to see it.
However, we should be able to see the skid marks, broken glass and deployed airbags of the collision on subsequent evenings. Comet Tempel 1's brightness is currently a faint, hard-to-see 9th magnitude, but NASA expects that brightness to flare up to a 6th or even 5th magnitude after impact (a lower number denotes a brighter star). That'll put it right on the edge of naked-eye visibility. No one knows just how long any enhanced brightness will last, so go outside in a few weeks to see what you can of this monumental event before it's gone.
So how do you do that? Find the Big Dipper, Boy Scout. It's in the norhtern portion of your sky. Now follow the arc of the Dipper's handle away from the "pan". The first bright star you'll come to is Arcturis in the constellation Bootes (no, not Loch's old dog). Then just continue that arc on to the next bright star that's called Spica. At the time of impact, the comet will be about 3.5 degrees from Spica (3.5 degrees is about three and a half finger widths). If possible, put down the beer and pick up a pair of binoculars or, better yet, stick your eyeball behind a telescope. It'll make the hunt much easier and more rewarding.
Or you could just sit your lazy ass in front of the TV watching history instead of experiencing it.
posted by TheBDS at 11:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home