This image shows comet Tempel 1 approximately 5 minutes
before Deep Impact's probe smashed into its surface. It was
taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor. The Sun is to
the right of the image and reveals terrain varying in brightness
by a factor of two. Shadows and bright areas indicate surface
topography. Smooth regions with no features (lower left and
upper right) are probably younger than rougher areas with
circular features, which are probably impact craters. The probe
crashed between the two dark-rimmed craters near the center
and bottom of the comet.
The nucleus is estimated to be about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles)
across and 7 (4.3 miles) kilometers tall.
