Deep Impact Takes A Powder

After successfully maneuvering an 820 pound probe into the path of a comet from 83 million miles distant, scientists wonder where the heck all that powder came from. A cloud generated by the successful impact of the probe on the surface of comet Tempel 1 indicates the comet was covered with "powdery stuff," according to NASA. "The major surprise was the opacity of the plume the impactor created and the light it gave off," said Deep Impact Principal Investigator Dr. Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park. "That suggests the dust excavated from the comet's surface was extremely fine, more like talcum powder than beach sand. And the surface is definitely not what most people think of when they think of comets -- an ice cube." NASA says the flyby craft, which carried and released the impactor probe, is in excellent shape. It is now over two million miles from the comet and moving away from it. The probe's collision with the comet released a rapidly-expanding cloud of dust, which led to the bright "flash"