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Deep Impact Space Probe Collides With Comet
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the dramatic effects of the collision early July 4 between an 820-pound projectile released by the Deep Impact spacecraft and comet 9P/Tempel 1.
This sequence of images shows the comet before and after the impact.
The image at left shows the comet about a minute before the impact. The encounter occurred at 1:52 a.m. EDT.
In the middle image, captured 15 minutes after the collision, Tempel 1 appears four times brighter than in the pre-impact photo. Astronomers noticed that the inner cloud of dust and gas surrounding the comet's nucleus increased by about 120 miles (200 kilometers) in size. The impact caused a brilliant flash of light and a constant increase in the brightness of the inner cloud of dust and gas.
The Hubble telescope continued to monitor the comet, snapping another image [at right] 62 minutes after the encounter. In this photo, the gas and dust ejected during the impact are expanding outward in the shape of a fan. The fan-shaped debris is traveling at about 450 miles an hour (720 kilometers an hour), about the speed of an airplane. The debris extends about 620 miles (1000 kilometers) from the nucleus.
The potato-shaped comet is 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) wide and 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) long. Tempel 1's nucleus is too small even for the Hubble telescope to resolve.
The visible-light images were taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys' High Resolution Camera.
About the Object
- DistanceDistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.The comet was approximately 0.91AU (136 million km, 85 million miles) from Earth and approximately 1.51AU (224 million km, 139 million miles) from the Sun at the time of these exposures.
About the Data
- Data DescriptionData DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposals 10456: P. Feldman (Johns Hopkins University), M. A'Hearn (University of Maryland), M. Belton (National Optical Astronomy Observatories), K. Meech (University of Hawaii), H. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory). - InstrumentInstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.HST>ACS/HRC
- Exposure DatesExposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.July 4, 2005
- FiltersFiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.F606W (V)
- Object NameObject NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.9P/Tempel 1
- Object DescriptionObject DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.Periodic Comet
- Release DateJuly 4, 2005
- Science ReleaseHubble Captures Deep Impact’s Collision with Comet
- Credit
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Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
