Keck Observatory is inviting the public to eavesdrop on the Deep Impact observing event on Sunday, July 3rd from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Hualalai Learning Theatre.

This will be the first time that the public will be able to "eavesdrop" on actual observations as they come in from Deep Impact, a NASA Discovery Mission and the first to go to a comet. The event will provide a rare opportunity for the public to share in the thrill of discovery which makes astronomy so enjoyable. The moment of impact is expected be at 7:52 p.m. Hawaii Time, plus or minus three minutes.

It is unclear what the public will actually be able to see the night of the event. For naked-eye observing, the comet may go from a nearly invisible object to a source slightly brighter than an average star. Dr. Karen Meech, coordinator for Earth ground-based operations, said at our recent Keck lecture that the comet may brighten to magnitude 3 object, making it visible to the naked eye near the vicinity of Spica and Jupiter. Public observing events, such as the one in Waimea, will provide people with the opportunity to see images from the NASA spacecraft, in addition to what telescopes on the ground might (or might not) see.

The plan for the Keck Observatory event will be to transmit near real-time images from the NASA Deep Impact spacecraft to a large display screen (800x600 resolution) on one of the projection screens in the Hualalai room. We will also connect a Polycom unit to remote ops II to let people see real-time action during the event. Jim Lyke is working on transmitting on-screen displays from the observing room to the conference room so that people can see what the astronomers see. One of our esteemed astronomers will be asked to help host the event to explain and narrate the action to the public. Weather permitting, telescopes will be available for comet searching.

Science Observations
Every telescope on Mauna Kea will be working together to study the result of the impact. The W. M. Keck Observatory will help test theories of solar system formation by studying the first cosmic collision visible from Earth since comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 smashed into Jupiter in 1994. The observations will also help investigate whether Earth’s water may have originated from comets.