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SWAS Observations of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 and Deep Impact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2006

Frank Bensch ,
Gary J. Melnick ,
David A. Neufeld ,
Martin Harwit ,
Ronald L. Snell  and
Brian M. Patten
Frank Bensch
Affiliation:
Radioastronomisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Auf dem Hügel 71, 53121 Bonn, Germany Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Gary J. Melnick
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
David A. Neufeld
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
Martin Harwit
Affiliation:
511 H Street, SW, Washington, DC, USA; also Cornell University
Ronald L. Snell
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
Brian M. Patten
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Abstract

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On 4 July 2005 at 5:52 UT the Deep Impact mission successfully completed its goal to hit the nucleus of 9P/Tempel 1 with an impactor, forming a crater on the nucleus and ejecting material into the coma of the comet (A'Hearn et al. 2005). The 370 kg impactor collided with the sunlit side of the nucleus with a relative velocity of 10.2 km s$^{-1}$. NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) observed the $1_{10}-1_{01}$ ortho-water ground-state rotational transition in comet 9P/Tempel 1 before, during, and after the impact. No excess emission from the impact was detected by SWAS. However, the water production rate of the comet showed large natural variations of more than a factor of three during the weeks before the impact.

Keywords

comets: individual (9P/Tempel 1) — radiative transfer — radio lines — solar system
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Symposium S231: Astrochemistry: Recent Successes and Current Challenges , August 2005 , pp. 489 - 490
Copyright
2006 International Astronomical Union