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Roman Comet 5,000 Times More Powerful Than A-Bomb
	Posted by freedom44 On News/Activism 10/17/2004 3:36:42 PM PDT · 52 replies · 1,693+ views Scotsman ^ \| 10/17/04 \| John von Radowitz People living in southern Germany during Roman times may have witnessed a comet impact 5,000 times more destructive than the Hiroshima atom bomb, researchers say. Scientists believe a field of craters around Lake Chiemsee, in south-east Bavaria, was caused by fragments of a huge comet that broke up in the Earthís atmosphere. Celtic artefacts found at the site, including a number of coins, appear to have been strongly heated on one side. This discovery, together with evidence from ancient tree rings and Roman reports of ìstones falling from the skyî, has led researchers to conclude that the impact happened in...

'Deep Impact' Spacecraft to Travel to Comet
	Posted by ChristianDefender On News/Activism 11/26/2004 12:01:30 AM PST · 17 replies · 557+ views FoxNews ^ \| 11-26-04 \| Fox News BOULDER, Colo. ó Where the movie "Deep Impact" depicted a comet hurtling to Earth, a real-world namesake is set to go the opposite direction to eventually slam into a comet. Deep Impact ó as the spacecraft is called ó will travel six months to reach a comet, named Comet Temple 1. It will then release an 825-pound impactor to search out and collide with the 5-mile long, 2-mile wide comet. The minds at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation (search) have been working on the spacecraft since 1996.

New Comet Now Visible to Naked Eye
	Posted by Right Wing Professor On News/Activism 12/08/2004 8:40:35 PM PST · 84 replies · 2,592+ views Yahoo ^ \| December 8, 2004 \| Robert Roy Rritt A comet discovered earlier this year has now moved close enough to be visible without binoculars or telescopes by experienced observers under dark skies. It is expected to put on a modest show this month and into January. Comet Machholz will be at its closest to Earth Jan. 5-6, 2005, when it will be 32 million miles (51 million kilometers) away. People with dark rural skies and a good map should be able to find it on Moon-free nights now into January. Backyard astronomers have been watching Machholz for months through telescopes. It was spotted by naked-eye observers for the...

NASA to send celestial hammer to break open comet
	Posted by Diamond On News/Activism 12/23/2004 9:20:12 AM PST · 47 replies · 798+ views EARTHTimes.org ^ \| 2004-12-20 \| I. A. Harry Space News \| Home NASA to send celestial hammer to break open comet Posted on : 2004-12-20\| Author : I. A. Harry\| News Category : Space Scientific curiosity is going to cause a minor collision in space. On January 12, 2004, NASA is scheduled to launch a spacecraft named Deep Impact. This spacecraft will fire an 800-pound impactor right into the path of the 4-mile wide comet Tempel 1. The collision is scheduled to take place on July 4, 2005. The mission is stated to cost approximately $ 330 million. Scientists at NASA are very eager to know what...

Comet comes to wish us a Happy New Year
	Posted by FairOpinion On News/Activism 01/01/2005 10:45:55 AM PST · 13 replies · 613+ views EarthTimes ^ \| Jan. 1, 2005 \| Dan. Y. A Go out in the open tonight after your dinner and look to the south east of the dark sky. See whether you can spot a celestial body with blue gas tail and the edge of an orange-yellowish dust tail emerging at very different angles from the coma. Thatís comet Machholz. The comet also code named as C/2004 Q2 is the 10th comet discovered by Don Machholz of Colfax, California, on August 27th. The comet will be closest to earth on Sunday and Monday, when it will be 32 million miles away. This is close in astronomical terms. It will be...

Comet or Meteorite Impact Events in 1178AD?
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/03/2005 3:59:02 PM PST · 62 replies · 2,032+ views SIS Conference ^ \| 1-26-2003 \| Emilio Spedicato 1. Introduction As related by Clube and Napier in their monograph The Cosmic Winter, see [1], in the year 1178 A.D. four wise men of Canterbury were sitting outside on a clear and calm 18th June night, a half Moon standing placidly in the starry sky. Suddenly they noticed a flame jutting out of a horn of the Moon. Then they saw the Moon tremble and its colour change slowly from light brilliant to a darker reddish tone. Such a colour remained for all the time the Moon was visible during that phase. This story is found in a manuscript...

Astronomers try to make comet sense of festive apparition
	Posted by missyme On News/Activism 01/04/2005 8:27:59 PM PST · 24 replies · 402+ views Scotmans News ^ \| Jan 4th, 2005 A COMET that appeared in the night sky over Christmas has invited comparisons with the Star of Bethlehem. But it is amateur astronomers with telescopes and binoculars who are pursuing the object rather than Wise Men bearing gifts. Comet Machholz will be at its most visible tomorrow and Thursday. Even then it will be no more than a faint smudge of light difficult to see with the naked eye. A pair of binoculars pointing south should pick it out near the Pleiades star cluster. Comets have been proposed as an explanation for the star that guided the Three Wise Men...

'Deep Impact' Probe to Try to Puncture a Comet
	Posted by crushelits On News/Activism 01/09/2005 8:03:12 PM PST · 9 replies · 368+ views washingtonpost.com ^ \| Monday, January 10, 2005 \| Guy Gugliotta When it comes to space exploration, where scientists often measure their needs in milli-this and micro-that, Deep Impact, as its name suggests, has all the subtlety of a punch in the mouth. Barring unforeseen delays, NASA will launch on Wednesday a 1,325-pound spacecraft on a one-way trip to the comet Tempel 1. On July 3, the spacecraft will jettison an 820-pound copper projectile in the comet's path and get out of the way as comet and projectile meet at a relative speed of 23,000 mph. This, perhaps not surprisingly, will happen on July 4, and if you are somewhere in...

Blasting Into the Core of a Comet to Learn Its Secrets
	Posted by neverdem On News/Activism 01/11/2005 5:13:06 PM PST · 9 replies · 549+ views NY Times ^ \| January 11, 2005 \| WARREN E. LEARY WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 - Since the earliest days of the solar system, comets have periodically smashed into Earth, blasting holes in the surface and scattering cosmic debris. Now it is our turn to strike back. On Wednesday, NASA is to launch a spacecraft called Deep Impact toward the comet Tempel 1. In six months, if all goes well, the craft will release an 820-pound copper-core "impactor" that will smash into the comet's nucleus at 23,000 miles per hour, excavating a crater that scientists say could be as large as a sports coliseum. Launching of the spacecraft from the Cape Canaveral...

Heads Up North America...Comet Machholz Visible Tonight
	Posted by My Favorite Headache On News/Activism 01/11/2005 7:22:02 PM PST · 42 replies · 2,349+ views Comet Machholz ^ Comet Machholz (Comet 2004 Q2) Page Comet Machholz is current overhead in the early evening. Comet hunter (and SJAA club member) Don Machholz discovered it last August. How he discovered the comet was described in his article in the SJAA Ephemeris. The comet is now nearly overhead at California latitudes. In a dark sky it should be visible as a non distinct patch of light. As of January 4, 2005 it was even visible within the San Jose city limits. Unfortunately the weather there has not been cooperating. The comet is easily visible in telescope finder or binoculars

Deep Impact on course for comet collision!
	Posted by missyme On News/Activism 01/12/2005 11:21:56 AM PST · 25 replies · 715+ views CNN ^ \| Jan 12th, 2005 CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- A NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name -- Deep Impact -- blasted off Wednesday on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse at the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. With a launch window only one second long, Deep Impact rocketed away at the designated moment on a six-month, 268 million-mile journey to Comet Tempel 1. It will be a one-way trip that NASA hopes will reach a cataclysmic end on the Fourth of July. Scientists are counting on Deep Impact to carve out a crater that...

NASA Launches Comet-Busting Spaceship
	Posted by paudio On News/Activism 01/12/2005 12:48:01 PM PST · 11 replies · 405+ views Fox News ^ \| 1/12/05 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ó A NASA (search) spacecraft with a Hollywood name ó Deep Impact (search) ó blasted off Wednesday on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. With a launch window only one second long, Deep Impact rocketed away at the designated moment on a six-month, 268-million-mile journey to Comet Tempel 1 (search). It will be a one-way trip that NASA hopes will reach a cataclysmic end on the Fourth of July.

Spacecraft launched on mission to smash comet
	Posted by bayourod On News/Activism 01/12/2005 7:52:25 PM PST · 16 replies · 345+ views The Houstoin Chronicle via AP via NASA Deep Impact Web site ^ \| Jan. 12, 2005 \| NASA staff CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ó A NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name ó Deep Impact ó blasted off today on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. With a launch window only one second long, Deep Impact rocketed away at the designated moment on a six-month, 268-million-mile journey to Comet Tempel 1. It will be a one-way trip that NASA hopes will reach a cataclysmic end on the Fourth of July. "We are on our way," an excited Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland,...

Clearing skies make comet more visible
	Posted by BenLurkin On News/Activism 01/13/2005 11:20:23 AM PST · 12 replies · 528+ views Valley Press on Thursday, ^ \| January 13, 2005. \| DON HALEY Clearing skies over the high desert will finally give stargazers a chance to peer at Comet Machholz, the noticeably green comet that has been transiting constellations above the southeastern horizon for several months. The comet, a faint glowing "fuzzball" detectable with the unaided eye, is now arcing upward through the lower portion of the constellation Perseus and can easily be seen with binoculars. To find Comet Machholz, look toward the southeast after complete darkness, preferably in an area that is distant from street lights. Find the lowest recognizable constellation, Orion. It appears as a long box of four bright stars,...

NASA comet-busting craft on course, instrument problem studied
	Posted by NormsRevenge On News/Activism 03/25/2005 7:27:52 PM PST · 9 replies · 299+ views Bakersfield Californian ^ \| 3/25/05 \| AP - Los Angeles PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is on course for a July 4 encounter with comet Tempel 1 but mission officials are trying to determine why a telescope that will function as its main science instrument has not reached proper focus, the space agency said Friday. Officials nonetheless expressed confidence that the mission will not be affected by the problem. Deep Impact 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 craft was launched on Jan....

Comet-hitting probe tweaks its course to target
	Posted by RightWhale On News/Activism 05/16/2005 8:35:53 AM PDT · 9 replies · 410+ views spaceflightnow.com ^ \| 16 May 05 \| NASA Comet-hitting probe tweaks its course to target NASA NEWS RELEASE Posted: May 15, 2005 Fifty-nine days before going head-to-head with comet Tempel 1, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft successfully executed the second trajectory correction maneuver of the mission. The burn further refined the spacecraft's trajectory, or flight path, and also moved forward the expected time of the Independence Day comet encounter so impact would be visible by ground- and space-based observatories. The 95-second burn - the longest remaining firing of the spacecraft's motors prior to comet encounter -- was executed on May 4. It changed Deep Impact's speed by 18.2 kilometers...