Re HST-GO-10144.06-A. Interim Performance Report (NOAO ID: ZKH001007)
This report concerns the section of the proposed work in HST-GO-10144.06-A that deals with
stereoscopic imaging of jet activity at comet 9P/Tempel 1 in the weeks before the
Deep Impact encounter.
The HST data were taken successfully and are available in calibrated form.
The Deep Impact data needed for this project were taken and have recently received their
final calibration and archived. A survey of the relevant Deep impact data has been done
in cooperation with other members of the Deep Impact team and a description and summary
of the data is now in the final stages of publication in the journal Icarus (Dust coma
morphology in the Deep Impact images of Comet 9P/Tempel 1, [2006] T.L.Farnham,
D.D. Wellnitz, D.L. Hampton, J.-Y. Li, J.M. Sunshine, O. Groussin, L.A. McFadden,
C.J. Crockett, M.F. A’Hearn, M.J.S. Belton, P. Schultz, C.M. Lisse, submitted to Icarus).
Initial software has been written (with N. Samarasinha) to solve the 3-D geometry of
the cometary jets using the projected geometry of jet features as input.
Before the final step of reconstructing the 3-D geometry of the main jet seen in the HST
images can be done accurately, we need to understand how to interpolate in time been the
HST and Deep Impact images. This requires research, currently underway, on the precise
spin state of the nucleus to be completed. This expected by the end of the calendar year
and is being lead by Michael Belton who is the person responsible for the HST analysis.
The proposed project is expected to be completed, including a peer reviewed write up by the end of 2007.