2006/10/31 by Michael S. Kelley, William T. Reach, Kelley, Michael S. +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Planetary Science and Exploration #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0611006
6 pages, 2 figures, To appear in the proceedings of "Deep Impact as a World Observatory Event - Synergies in Space, Time", ed. Hans Ulrich Kaeufl and Chris Sterken, Springer
arxiv created 2006/10/31 · openalex publication_date 2006/10/31 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The Deep Impact encounter with the nucleus of 9P/Tempel ejected small grains (a <~ 10 micron) into the comet's coma, evidenced by thermal emission from small dust grains at mid-infrared wavelengths (~10 micron) and dynamical simulations of optical images. Meteor-sized particles (a >~ 100 micron) ejected by the impact will likely have the lowest ejection velocities and will weakly interact with solar radiation pressure. Therefore, large particles may remain near the nucleus for weeks or months after ejection by Deep Impact. We present initial highlights of our Spitzer Space Telescope/MIPS 24 micron camera program to image comet 9P/Tempel at 30, 80, 420, and 560 days after the Deep Impact encounter. The MIPS data, combined with our dynamics model, enable detection of large dust grains potentially ejected by Deep Impact.