New Territory on comet Tempel 1. Click for larger. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Maryland/Cornell

The pictures are coming in.  This particular one (NASA’s description is below) shows new territory not before seen.

There are images of the impact site although they are a bit fuzzy.  They show the impact point to be 150 meters (500 ft) in diameter with (apparently) a little pile in the middle where material fell back in.  It’s early in the process so we have to be patient, I have no doubt we will see enhanced images after a while.

In the mean time you can see what pictures are here so far by visiting the Stardust Image Gallery.

About the image above:

This image obtained by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft shows a side of the nucleus of comet Tempel 1 that has never been seen before. In the image, three terraces of different elevations are visible, with dark, banded scarps, or slopes, separating them. The widest of the banded slopes is about 2 kilometers (1 mile). The lowest terrace has two circular features that are about 150 meters (500 feet) in diameter.

An inset on the right shows a closer view.

This image was taken on February 14, 2011, at 8:39:21 p.m. PST. The spatial resolution is about 15 meters (50 feet) per pixel.

NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft visited this same comet in July 2005 and also observed the presence of layers on the other side of the comet.

This image shows at least 90 percent new territory.