# Deep Impact Needs Glasses **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193 "2005-06-14T07:41:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193/1 "2005-06-14T07:41:43Z")
[Whoops!](http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1529_1.asp) > [@](#): > > Last March NASA discovered that its Deep Impact mission, which is on track to smash a projectile into Comet Tempel 1 on the night of July 3rd, has a flaw in the optics of its sharpest camera. The flaw worsens the camera’s resolution by about a factor of four. NASA engineers expressed hope at the time that they could remove most of the flaw’s effects by sophisticated image processing, and at a press conference yesterday, project managers said that this can indeed be done. The spacecraft’s High Resolution Instrument should reveal features on the surface of the comet’s nucleus as small as about 6 meters across, as originally planned. But the complex image-deconvolution process may slow the release of the pictures. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193/2 "2005-06-14T08:38:45Z")
D’oh! So if the camera’s optics had been up to spec, presumably the image processing would have resulted in yet clearer images? OK, maybe not, as the image processing may be better at dealing with loss of focus than simple lack of detail, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193/3 "2005-06-14T08:46:33Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > D’oh! > > So if the camera’s optics had been up to spec, presumably the image processing would have resulted in yet clearer images? OK, maybe not, as the image processing may be better at dealing with loss of focus than simple lack of detail, but still… Actually, it might, since NASA’s been able to go back and make improvements into older images taken with **non** -defective cameras. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193/4 "2005-06-14T17:40:58Z")
Perhaps NASA should hire someone like Edmund Scientific. Edmund always seemed to make quite decent telescopes, and NASA sure has a history of bad optics. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193/5 "2005-06-14T17:55:45Z")
> [@gotpasswords](#): > > Perhaps NASA should hire someone like Edmund Scientific. Edmund always seemed to make quite decent telescopes, and NASA sure has a history of bad optics. Plus, they usually have some great sales! NASA could save a bundle! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deep-impact-needs-glasses/308193/6 "2005-06-14T21:26:11Z")
Deep Impact sounds like a Porn title. Gay Porn title. Just saying.