Hubble Captures Deep Impact's Collision with Comet

*Description*: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has snapped an image of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 just days before the Deep Impact spacecraft is scheduled to rendezvous with the comet. This image, taken on the morning of June 30, 2005, shows an undisturbed and quiet comet. This Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Wide Field Camera (WFC) image of Tempel 1 shows a slightly larger view of the comet than was seen in Hubble images released last week. This image of the comet shows the dusty inner coma around the nucleus, but the solid nucleus itself is below Hubble's resolution. The nucleus was at a distance of 83 million miles (134 million kilometers) when the image was taken. The ACS/WFC image is a composite of data taken with blue and red filters onboard Hubble. A quiescent comet is seen in this pre-impact image along with elongated star trails. As the telescope was locked on the movement of the comet, the background stars left small trailed arcs during the time the exposures were taken. For additional information, please contact: Paul Feldman, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (phone) 410-516-7339, (email) pdf@pha.jhu.edu or Keith Noll, Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, Md. 21218, (phone) 410-338-1828, (fax) 410-338-4579, (email) noll@stsci.edu. Technical facts about this news release: Deep Impact Space Probe Collides With Comet Comet 9P/Tempel 1 Pre- and Post-Impact Images July 4, 2005 STScI-PRC05-17a About the Object Object Name: 9P/Tempel 1 Object Description: Periodic Comet Distance: The comet was approximately 0.91AU (136 million km, 85 million miles) from Earth and approximately 1.51AU (224 million km, 139 million miles) from the Sun at the time of these exposures. About the Data Data Description: The Hubble image was created from HST data from proposals 10456: P. Feldman (Johns Hopkins University), M. A'Hearn (University of Maryland), M. Belton (National Optical Astronomy Observatories), K. Meech (University of Hawaii), H. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory). Instrument: ACS/HRC Exposure Date: July 4, 2005 Filter: F606W ("V") About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, P. Feldman (Johns Hopkins University) and H. Weaver (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory) Release Date: July 4, 2005 Hubble Images Comet Tempel 1 Just Before Deep Impact Probe Arrives Comet 9P/Tempel 1 Pre-Impact Image June 30, 2005 STScI-PRC05-17b About the Object Object Name: 9P/Tempel 1 Object Description: Periodic Comet Distance: The comet was approximately 0.86AU (129 million km, 80 million miles) from Earth and approximately 1.51AU (224 million km, 139 million miles) from the Sun at the time of these exposures. Dimensions: The comet's nucleus is approximately 5-6 km (3-4 mi) in diameter. It is not resolved in the HST images. About the Data Data Description: The Hubble image was created from HST data from Hubble Heritage proposal 10095: K. Noll (STScI), P. Royle (STScI), P. Feldman (JHU), L. McFadden (University of Maryland), H. Weaver (JHU APL), H. Bond (STScI), C. Christian (STScI), L. Frattare (STScI) Z. Levay (STScI), F. Hamilton (CSC/STScI), A. Lubenow (STScI), M. Mutchler (STScI) and W. Januszewski (STScI). Instrument: ACS/WFC Exposure Date(s): June 30, 2005 Exposure Time: 34.5 minutes Filters: F435W ("B"), F625W ("r") About the Image Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Release Date: July 4, 2005 Dimensions: The image is 3.1 arcminutes wide, approximately 120,000 km (74,000 mi) at the distance to the comet. Orientation: Hubble Images Comet Tempel 1 Just Before Deep Impact Probe Arrives [ http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/2005/17/images/b/formats/compass_large_web.jpg ] *News Release Number:*: STScI-2005-17b

NASA Identifier: SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-2005-17b