Amazing. I just watched an 820 - pound copper impact probe the size of a washing machine smash into comet Tempel - 1 at 23,000 mph. Pictures of the event were sent to Earth from somewhere outside the orbit of Saturn, and then streamed from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California to my laptop. If Microsoft products didn't suck mule rectum, I could post a screenshot for you of the impact, but apparently Windows Media Player won't allow that sort of foolishness.
Think about that: we have the technology to send a probe to collide with a comet, precisely aim it over the course of six months and 268 million miles, instantly receive images from 3.7 seconds before impact, send those pictures across the country, then wirelessly transmit them to a computer about an inch thick... but I can't take a screenshot and post those pictures on my website, probably because of some ass - headed DRM nonsense that Microsnot has used to cripple my software.
Way to go, Bill. Jackass.
Still: in the morning you'll be seeing the images I just saw, and they'll look even better once the image processing folks tidy them up. Hubble was also having a peek at the collision, and those pictures should be even better.
And if there's a big, persistent plume from the impact, you can see it yourself if you've got a dark place to stand and a pair of good binoculars.
