Deep Impact on Its Way
1/19/05

This Jan. 13 photograph shows the Deep Impact spacecraft as seen from the Mt. Palomar telescope above Pasadena, CA, the day after launch.

The photo was taken by Mt Palomar's 200-inch telescope as the spacecraft was 163,000 miles from Earth and moving at a speed of about 10,000 miles per hour. The high speed of the spacecraft causes it to appear as a long streak across the sky in the constellation Virgo during the 10-minute exposure time of the image.

The spacecraft will travel to comet Tempel 1 and release an impactor, creating a crater on the surface of the comet. Scientists believe the exposed materials may give clues to the formation of our solar system.

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