Here is the Australian East Coast time for the 'Deep Impact' event plus links to view it on the internet.
The spacecraft should arrive at the comet Tempel 1 on July 4 about 4pm our time (AEST.)
The Visitor Center at Kitt Peak National Observatory plans to offer a live feed of the encounter between NASA's Deep Impact mission and Comet Tempel 1 running about an hour before the planned impact. though about 45 minutes afterward.
The feed will consist of still images of the distant comet, and a frequently updated movie assembled from the individual frames. Each frame will consist of a 30-second exposure taken with an electronic CCD imager attached to the 20-inch Ritchey-Chretien telescope in the Kitt Peak Visitor Centre observatory.
thanks for the link dave. I have seem comet temple1 but that was a couple of weeks back i think... I have to track it down again this weekend so I can findit on the day for some friends that are popping over to see it
I dont know that its far enough away that there will be a big time difference ken (but I am prolly wrong). besides I think thats 4pm EST on earth not EST on the comet
the effects may very well last the night...
Still, it will take a bit of time for us to notice anything.
I suppose my question should be simplified by saying "will we see anything by the time it is dark enough to view or will it be all over by then?"
Ken,
I think it will take several hours after impact before there is a cloud of debris created that is large enough to reflect light back to earth of any noticable difference. I may be wrong but I wouldn't think the impact would be large enough for us to view from here with the comet being about 90 million miles away.
Thanks for your interest guys. Here's afew more items of interest.
According to the CSIRO; before the impact the comet will not be bright enough to see with the unaided eye. The impact may brighten it, but by how much is unknown. By the time the sun sets in eastern Australia it will be high in the sky, almost due north.
Very little is known about comet Tempel 1. In fact, very little is known about comets generally. This is the point of this mission. By looking at the pristine nucleus scientists hope to get a better understanding of what a comet is made of. In Australia CSIRO's radio telescopes will be watching. Radio telescopes can work in daylight and so scientists will be able to watch the comet at the time of the impact, and for the following seven hours.
Deep Impact is the first mission to make contact with a comet’s surface. The hope is to produce a crater in the large comet and reveal what is underneath. Comet Temple 1 is moving at about 108,000 kilometres per hour and the ejected 372-kilogram impactor will be speeding at roughly 37,000 kilometers per hour towards it, creating a crater perhaps 200 meters wide and 50 meters deep.
Deep Impact should be able to look into the new crater for almost 15 minutes before it speeds away. It could get hit with shrapnel and suffer irreparable damage.. no-one knows what will happen!
At the moment of impact, Comet Tempel 1 will be situated about 3½ degrees to the east-northeast of the bluish first-magnitude star, Spica in Virgo. Just locate Jupiter if you can in the daylight and you'll spot Spica very closeby.
The comet glows like a 10th magnitude star at best. Comet Tempel 1 might become 15 to 40 times brighter in the hours immediately after the impact. The damage to the comet by Deep Impact may create a cloud of meteoroids, objects larger than the gas and dust that NASA predicts.
According to Peter Jenniskens, an astronomer with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. “Depending on how the kinetic energy of the impact will be distributed, there is a real possibility that sufficient internal gas pressure builds up to break the comet apart".
WOW, now that's a worry! But there's no real cause for alarm, in the event that any meteoroid material is released, it will be mild and won't come anywhere near us.They won’t knock the comet off into a collision course with Earth. Just for the record - Bruce Willis is NOT onboard.
As a foonote, I believe, due to the distance involved, there should be a time delay of about 7 minutes until the info reaches us after the event, BUT don't quote me exact on that... it's just a quick calculation.
Hope all this helps and I know one thing, it's gonna' make the news on Monday. To ving, cahullian, ballaratdragons, xstream, et al - good luck with it all.
How long.
Well, 90 million miles, thats about 8 minutes.
Now allow for for the head wind from the Solar wind at what 200MPS, ooh dont forget the influence of the gravimetric particles from the Nexus multiplied by the coriolis effect of the Sun's gravity and of course the flash guns on the camera's.
So yep, after dark I reckon.
LOL
The impact time is 5.52 for NZ so maybe we can get a report before it's viewable here from someone across the Tasman.
Dave, I hope they do crack open and release the gases under pressure. Thoughts are that the common variation in brightness of Temple 1 is due to jets of gases being released at times. Hopefully it will reach the expected mag 6 their hoping for.
Its well covered by a range of large scopes including Hubble. The timing of the impact coincides with the best view available to Hawaii. The flyby of deep impact after impact should make for good viewing.
If anyone hasnt viewed it yet and has a scope capable should do so to note the difference before and after the event. I've viewed it at least half a dozen times over the last 3weeks to imbed its position and appearance.
I'm off to a Barbie tonight, the scope got invited too.
Gonna show some people the Comet.
It should be a great night's viewing now that the clouds have gone.
Hopefully I will be viewing Temple 1 through the C14 on Monday, if so, will hook up the CCD and get pics.
And it was taken by a kodak! 
Now did you set the timer before you ran over the hill and dropped your daks! 
