Results from the Deep Impact Mission
- Paper number
IAC-05-A3.5.A.03
- Author
Mr. Michael F. Ahern, University of Maryland, United States
- Year
2005
- Abstract
On 4 July 2005, Deep Impact will impact the nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel 1,excavating a crater of unpredictable size and releasing material from the relatively unprocessed interior of the comet's nucleus. The simple morphology viewed from the flyby spacecraft will provide important insights into the physical structure of a cometary nucleus that seems to be very typical. The material released from the interior will enable the use of observations of the coma to interpret the composition of the interior of the nucleus of comets. Both aspects will assist u sin using comets to constrain the conditions in the protoplanetary disk. The talk will present a preliminary assessment of the results from the impact.
- Abstract document