Comet smasher has target in sight

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft has photographed, for the first time, the target of its comet-smashing mission – a big ball of dirty ice and rock that scientists hope may yield a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system.

The image of comet Tempel 1 was taken April 25 from a distance of 39.7 million miles and was released this week by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where the Deep Impact project is managed.

The spacecraft will begin making daily observations today, aiding mission officials as they plot the final trajectory for a July 4 encounter.

Deep Impact, launched Jan. 12, carries an “impactor” that will be released to collide with the comet, possibly creating a stadium-size gouge while the spacecraft’s instruments collect data on the material that is hurled off.

The impact will also be observed by NASA’s space telescopes and telescopes on Earth.