Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Apr 5, 2006 12:36:34 GMT -6
Impactor ejects mighty water mass
The Nasa projectile that slammed into Comet Tempel 1 last year kicked out at least 250,000 tons of water.
The figure comes from UK/US scientists on the Swift telescope, one of many observatories called on to study the US space agency's Deep Impact event.
Swift's X-ray data shows more water was released and over a longer time scale than had previously been thought.
Swift's X-ray Telescope (XRT) saw the comet continue to release water for some 13 days after the initial event, with a peak five days on from the collision.
X-rays provide a direct measurement of the colossal amount of water thrown out as a result of the impact - the Earth-equivalent volume of about 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Story here: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4871934.stm
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I wanna be the first to offer "Space Water" in bottles... ;D