When it comes to slamming space probes into comets, astronomers - like Boy Scouts -prefer to be prepared. As part of that preparation, a team of researchers has been us-ing a giant gun to hurl projectiles at comet-like substances, then pore over the results. By doing so , the astronomers hope to ready themselves for what they might see July 3-4, when NASA's Deep Impact mission is slated to hurl its own projectile at a comet known as Tempel 1. "We look at a wide range of pos-sible scenarios here," said planetary geologist Peter Schultz, a Deep Impact co-investigator at Brown University, in telephone interview. "The hope is that, with the short period of time in which we start getting back images, we can understand what we're seeing."
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