Comet Tempel 1 makes its way across the night sky, oblivious to an impending collision with a NASA spacecraft.

Italian astronomer Giancula Masi, of the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory, and colleague Roger Willcox stitched together this animation of Tempel 1 during remote operations of a 14-inch instrument with the Southern Telescope in Education (SoTIE) in Las Campanas, Chile.

The astronomers combined a series of 60-second exposures without filters to make this animation of Tempel 1.

Comet Tempel 1 is in the crosshairs of NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft, which will release an impactor probe to slam into the icy wanderer on July 4, 2005. In addition to observations by Deep Impact’s flyby vehicle, a myriad of ground-based telescopes, like those of the SoTIE project, and space-based observatories will also be trained on the comet during the collision.

Astronomers hope the Deep Impact mission will lead to a better understanding of the composition of comets and the state of material during the formation of the solar system.

• Deep Impact Special Report

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: G. Masi/R. Wilcox