The impact presumably excavated a massive crater in the comet, but the bright outpouring of materials released by the crash prevented the team from immediately seeing the comet's scarred surface.
"On my god, look at that," a member of the Deep Impact team shouted from Mission Control as the first image popped up on a monitor at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
"Jeez, and we thought it was going to be subtle!" added commentator and comet scientist Donald Yeomans. "I can't imagine how this could go any better."
Dozens of ground and space-based observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, watched the impact, which took place 83 million miles from Earth. The impactor relayed a series of images of the approaching comet, dispatching its final picture just 3.7 seconds before it was vaporized.
The pictures reveal unprecedented details about the comet's surface, including a deep depression near the southern tip, a smooth area and patches of rugged terrain. The comet as a whole is shaped like a potato.
Since comets are made of the same materials from which the solar system formed, scientists are eager to study these pristine samples in hopes of gleaning information about Earth's origin.
"The problem in understanding the comets is each time the comet goes close to the sun, the surface layer gets heated and this changes (it)," said Deep Impact lead scientist Michael A'Hearn. "It's only the interior that preserves the clues to the formation the solar system."
Scientists have not yet received most of the data collected by the Deep Impact flyby craft, which spent about 800 seconds studying the comet and the debris released by crash. Additional information is expected later Monday.
