Yeah, Right, Whatever

You know, I think I'd be a little scared, too, if I had an object the size of a washing machine barreling at me at 23,000 miles per hour.

A comet that will be whacked by a NASA probe next week almost looks like its having some pre-impact jitters, flaring up in a new picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The image shows a plume of gas and dust shooting out from comet Tempel 1. The plume does not appear in another photo taken a few hours earlier.

The outburst is normal for a comet, said Paul Feldman, a Johns Hopkins University astronomer who led the observations. It likely originates from a crack in the comet's crusty shell, which releases volatile material from below.

So, who's going to be awake with me at 0600 UT to watch it and see what happens? And are there any observatories near by where we can watch the fun?