World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online: "Space fireworks give Nasa cosmic clues

By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent


A NASA spacecraft is preparing a celestial fireworks display for Independence Day, when it will shoot a huge copper bullet into a comet in an attempt to find clues to the origin of the solar system.
The Deep Impact probe will fire the missile at the Tempel 1 comet in the early hours of July 3. The next morning, astronomers will see what the explosion reveals about its make-up.
NI_MPU('middle');%u201CEvery year I look forward to the Fourth of July, but this year promises to be extra special,%u201D Andrew Dantzler, the director of Nasa%u2019s solar system division, said yesterday."