Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.3707f&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #37.07
Other
Scientific paper
The Deep Impact spacecraft encountered comet 9P/Tempel 1 on 4 July 2005, obtaining thousands of images of the coma and nucleus. During the approach, periodic temporal variations were detected in the coma activity, and near closest approach, observations show numerous radial jets. Features also include intricate flows associated with the exposed ice patches on the surface of the nucleus and material that appears to emanate from unilluminated regions near the south pole (Farnham et al. 2007).
Information regarding the three-dimensional structure of the radial jets is available from stereo pairs of images obtained from different perspectives as the flyby spacecraft passed the nucleus (as well as the different perspectives of the impactor and the flyby spacecraft). We use this stereo information, in conjunction with the digital shape model of the nucleus, to project the jets back to their origins on the surface. With the determination of the source locations, we can explore the physical properties of the active areas to investigate how they may differ from other regions of the nucleus. We can also use the DI approach data to explore the temporal responses of the active areas. The shape model reveals the local illumination conditions as the sources rotate into and out of sunlight, which can be correlated with the onset and cessation of activity observed during the spacecraft approach.
The ultimate goal is to investigate the conditions under which cometary activity occurs, to constrain the mechanisms that act to produce it, and to evaluate potential evolutionary processes that result from this activity. We will report on the results of this investigation.
This work was supported by a grant from the NASA Discovery Data Analysis Program.
Farnham et al., Icarus 187, 26, 2007.
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