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[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

9P-Temple 1/Deep Impact Statistics

I desired to know more of the intricate details of the mission, did some research and this is what I learned.

* 9P/Tempel 1 was discovered by E.W.L (Wilhelm) Tempel in France on 3 April 1867 and has had its orbit altered since by encounters with Jupiter.

Temple 1 position at Launch date

Temple 1 postion at Impact Date

Temple 1's orbit is "tilted" 10.5 Degrees in relation to the plane of the Solar System

* Comet Temple 1 will be about 84,000,000 miles away on 4 July 2005. The delay from the speed of light in seeing any event will be about 7.5 minutes

* Tempel 1 is a potato-shaped comet about 5 1/2 miles long and perhaps two miles across, remains mostly between Mars and Jupiter in a 5.5-year elliptical orbit about the sun and rotates once every 41 hours.

* The 770 pound solid Copper impactor, (size of a bushel basket), will be released from the flyby spacecraft. Moving at speeds up to 22,300 MPH...about at a velocity 10 times that of a rifle bullet - Mission planners say the energy produced will be like 4.5 tons of TNT going off – producing a fireworks display for the world's observatories - it will kick up enough "dust" that it should easily be a visible naked eye comet right afterwards

* The comet is going MUCH faster than the probe, so the probe really isn't smashing into the comet as much as the comet is going to run into
the probe.

* A mission that would have sent a probe to comet Tempel 1 had been postponed indefinitely. This mission, the first of it's kind, would have landed on the comet in 2005. Unfortunately, other projects have used up the money available for the program. This is the first time a mission has been scratched in 10 years

* Is a mere $330 million mission

* The Spacecraft/mothership is the size of a Washing Machine and weighs 1,325-pounds

* Cameras on the Impactor and on the mother ship will image the entire event

_________________________

Mission to Comet Temple 1 is underway!...

The Deep Impact mission has successfully launched and it's on it's way to knock out a chunk of a regular space visitor. What will the outcome be, will it shatter the comet, will it alter the comet's orbit...or will it just gouge out a stadium sized hole on the surface with no other alterations?

We shall soon see...but I seem to remember Sir Issac Newton's Law's of Motion...even if it's just a small tap.

[timothy]

Joe
If it turns out the comet turns into a pre earth crater, we could just send another hammer out and send it in a different direction. Hey, that sounds like a simple solution to earth smashing asteroids.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

We can call it "Operation Thor's Hammer!

It will be almost like the arcade came of "Asteroids and Space Invaders" combined into one.

Many a quater had funded that industry as a young man.

[MicroNova]

Here's a little Temple Tuttle Trivia (TTT)

Aristotle, a famous ancient thinker, named falling stars meteors over two thousand years ago. Aristotle may have observed the Leonids that are predominantly bits of dust left in the wake of the comet Temple-Tuttle. Ergo TT may have inspired the name comet.

For More Meteor Mysteries see:
www.thursdaysclassroom.com/04nov99/article1.html

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

T cubed...

A couple of interesting facts in the link:

It was not until 1833 that scientists began to seriously study meteors.

Some argued that meteors were caused by volcanoes. Some argued that meteors were caused by a fungus in the sky. Earlier, Ben Franklin had argued that meteors were electrical, a form of lightening.

I find it amazing that it really hasn't been that long since we really finally figured out what meteors are.

Thanks for the link.

[timothy]

I looked up the impact date on my starry nights and found that the comet is going to be pretty low in the evening sky. If it happens later at night we won't be able to see it.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Correction from the "Deep Impact Amateur Observers Program".

Hi Joe,

Thank you! I've looked through your site... very nice. Tempel 1 will be at opposition during April so that will be a good time to go out and observe it. I do hope that you register and submit some observations.

I noticed a couple of incorrect facts...

-- " The 770 pound solid Copper impactor,..."

The impactor is not solid
copper, but it does have a large chunk of copper in the front.

-- "A mission that would have sent a probe to comet Tempel 1 had been
postponed indefinitely. This mission, the first of it's kind, would have
landed on the comet in 2005. Unfortunately, other projects have used up
the money available for the program. This is the first time a mission
has been scratched in 10 years."

I have no idea where you got this, but
it is incorrect.

Clear Skies!
Elizabeth Warner

------------

Well, I don't remember where I got the Deep Impact stats, but am glad that it is corrected.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

NASA: Comet-Smashing Deep Impact Camera Blurry

Oh oh, Looks like a glitch has come up...

From Space.com:

NASA's comet-slamming Deep Impact spacecraft is generally in good health though a minor glitch has cropped up with one camera, mission officials said Friday. At completion of the bake-out procedure, test images were taken through the HRI. These images indicate the telescope has not reached perfect focus.

Along with the imagers aboard the spacecraft, NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, along with the largest telescopes on Earth, will observe the effects of the material flying from the comet's newly formed crater.

More here: www.space.com/missionlaunches/050325_deep_impact.html

----------

It will be cool to catch this event with ccd cameras out there, but I doubt if any thing can be visualized from Chicago way.

[timothy]

Chicago said:

Correction from the "Deep Impact Amateur Observers Program".

Hi Joe,

Thank you! I've looked through your site... very nice. Tempel 1 will be at opposition during April so that will be a good time to go out and observe it. I do hope that you register and submit some observations.

I noticed a couple of incorrect facts...

-- " The 770 pound solid Copper impactor,..."

The impactor is not solid
copper, but it does have a large chunk of copper in the front.

-- "A mission that would have sent a probe to comet Tempel 1 had been
postponed indefinitely. This mission, the first of it's kind, would have
landed on the comet in 2005. Unfortunately, other projects have used up
the money available for the program. This is the first time a mission
has been scratched in 10 years."

I have no idea where you got this, but
it is incorrect.

Clear Skies!
Elizabeth Warner

------------

Well, I don't remember where I got the Deep Impact stats, but am glad that it is corrected.

Meet Elizabeth Warner
Elizabeth has several jobs on the Deep Impact mission. From the University of Maryland, she works with the amateur astronomer programs for Deep Impact and this month, she sees the release of a web site she designed to help others learn how to track Comet Tempel 1 through a telescope. Not only that, but she also works on other outreach programs for the mission and is co-curator of the Deep Impact web site. Meet Elizabeth Warner.

Did anybody else realize this is the Elizabeth Warner from the deep impact project. If I'm wrong I apologize and please correct me.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Tim,

You are quite wise and well read. It does appear to be the one and the same person.


I have the site already posted in another thread earlier today: astronomer.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=DeepImpact&action=display&thread=1112109727&start=0


This will be quite a cool event to witness.

Great to have such knowledgeable members... ;D