'Comet smasher' scientist visits Belfast

The scientist who realised his dream of hitting a comet this summer will give a public lecture next week at Queen's University.

In July, the NASA Deep Impact mission achieved its primary goal of hitting comet Tempel 1 with a spacecraft at 22,000 mph. The images sent back from space stunned the world.

Professor Mike A'Hearn from the University of Maryland, who was the person who proposed the space mission to NASA, will visit Belfast next week and will be showing the amazing results to the public.

In his lecture, Professor A'Hearn (whose family originated from Ireland) will explain why the mission was important, what happened during the encounter and what scientists have learned so far from the pictures and data sent back by the mothership.

"This was a beautiful experiment designed to really tell us what comets are made of, where they come from and how they evolve," said Queen's University Professor Alan Fitzsimmons.

The Deep Impact mission encountered comet Tempel 1 on 04 July this year. A copper projectile weighing a third of a tonne hit this icy body at 10 km per second, excavating tons of material from below the surface. The mothership flew past at a safe distance of 500 km (300 miles) and transmitted pictures and data back to Earth.

(MB/SP)