At roughly 2am EDT on July 4th a copper slug weighing over 800 lbs slammed into Comet Tempel 1. This was the result of years of effort on behalf of NASA’s Deep Impact Team at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California.

The full result of the project will not be known for years as scientists must evaluate and compile massive anounts of data resulting from the project. It is certain the information gleened from this project will have considerable impact on our understanding of the origins of the universe.

Quicktime Movie of images from the impactor on the way to collision

You can view pictures and read in detail about the mission at http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/index.html