Deep Impact to collide with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4

For the last five billion years of our planet's violent history, Earth has been walloped by comets. These small bodies and their asteroid cousins whacked Earth often in its early years, knocking the stuffing out of our young world. As the solar system matured, impacts happened less often—but they have never ceased. Earth bears its scars in the form of weathered craters and extinct species.

This 4th of July is payback time. For the first time in history, Earth gets to strike back.

I don't have a telescope but it doesn't matter as the collision won't be seen from Central Canada anyway. If you have one and are in Hawaii, Southwestern US or Mexico, observation tips can be found at The Amateur Observers Program and Sky & Telescope magazine.