Deep News
Newsletter for the Deep Impact mission
Issue 26
September 2005
Two months ago, much of the world stopped to watch Comet Tempel 1 plough into the Deep Impact spacecraft and the resulting spectacular release of a cloud of dust and gas. Some people watched through telescopes, and some watched the images sent back from the flyby spacecraft by television or computer. Whatever the form of observation, it is true that it was a Deep Impact felt around the world. For the past two, almost three months the science team has been hard at work studying the resulting data while the engineering team planned and performed a maneuver to put the spacecraft on a new path and into a safe sleep mode. If you missed any of this, you may want to take a look at our web site and read the newsletter below for new updates.
deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov
deepimpact.umd.edu
Picture This! - Put Your Best Nucleus Forward
David Stern, a member of the science team has been working with Co-Investigator Alan Delamere to combine comet nucleus images from the impactor spacecraft into one composite at the highest resolution and the greatest spatial coverage. What is that process like?
deepimpact.umd.edu/gallery/Making_Composite.html
And Picture This! - Beauty is Skin Deep
Using a composite picture of the nucleus, the science team has been able to study the "skin" (surface features) of Comet Tempel 1.
deepimpact.umd.edu/gallery/T1_Composite_Map.html
Mission Update - Updates from the Science Team
The science team has been working, meeting and presenting first results and then working, meeting, and presenting more results. There is hardly time for them to catch their breath. Read on.
deepimpact.umd.edu/mission/updates/update-200509.html
Up Close and Personal - Meet Olivier Groussin
Olivier completed his doctoral work in France three years ago. He worked for the Rosetta mission to a comet for a year in Berlin, and now he is at University of Maryland. Olivier is a member of the science team analyzing the images and spectra data from encounter. Meet Olivier Groussin.
deepimpact.umd.edu/mission/bios/bio-ogroussin.html
The Deep Space Network - Messages from Space
Millions of people on Earth were able to enjoy images from the Deep Impact spacecraft during encounter largely because the great antennas of the Deep Space Network brought the images safely home to the mission team. Read the story of encounter from the point of view of the DSN team.
deepimpact.umd.edu/tech/dsn-postencounter.html
And More on the DSN - Team Member Visits Goldstone
Once the encounter with comet Tempel 1 was over, some of our visiting team members became curious about the antennas that brought the data down to earth - so they went to visit them at the Deep Space Network in Goldstone, California. Enjoy the tour!
deepimpact.umd.edu/tech/dsn-teamvisit.html
Deep Impact Images - Making a "Spectrum of Yourself"
The Deep Impact flyby spacecraft sent back more than optical images of the encounter with Tempel 1. It also sent back infrared spectra. It is from these data that the composition of the evolving ejecta plume is revealed, and the science team deciphers chemical and molecular changes from the impact.
deepimpact.umd.edu/results/spectrometer.html
Refresher Course - Don't Forget About These Things
Did you find out about Deep Impact in July 2005 and wonder where the mission had been? Here are some good items to take a look at for a first time - or for a first time in a long time!
Fun Facts for Deep Impact:
deepimpact.umd.edu/mission/quickfacts.html
Why Study Comets?
deepimpact.umd.edu/science/comets.html
What is Spectroscopy?
deepimpact.umd.edu/science/spectroscopy.html
Deep Impact Flight System
deepimpact.umd.edu/tech/flightsys.html
Deep Impact Animation
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/multimedia/di-animation.html
Other Encounter Animations
deepimpact.umd.edu/gallery/animation.html
Education Activities
deepimpact.umd.edu/educ/
Fun for Kids
deepimpact.umd.edu/disczone/
Did you see our past Deep News Issues?
Visit deepimpact.umd.edu/newsletter/archive.html to catch up on exciting past news from the Deep Impact mission.
Deep Impact is a Discovery mission. For more information on the Discovery Program, visit:
discovery.nasa.gov/
The Deep Impact mission is a partnership among the University of Maryland (UMD), the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp (BATC). Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly focused space science investigations. See deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov or our mirror site at deepimpact.umd.edu.
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