Paper: astro-ph/0509850
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:24:38 GMT (62kb)

Title: SWAS observations of comet 9P/Tempel 1 and Deep Impact

Authors: Frank Bensch, Gary J. Melnick, David A. Neufeld, Martin Harwit,
Ronald L. Snell, Brian M. Patten

Categories: astro-ph

Comments: to appear in the proceedings of the IAU Symposium No. 231:
"Astrochemistry - Recent Successes and Current Callenges"

On 4 July 2005 at 1:52 UT the Deep Impact mission successfully completed its
goal to hit the nucleus of 9P/Tempel 1 with an impactor, forming a crater on
the nucleus and ejecting material into the coma of the comet.

The 370 kg impactor collided with the sunlit side of the nucleus with a relative velocity of 10.2 km/s. NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) observed the 1(10)-1(01) ortho-water ground-state rotational transition in comet 9P/Tempel 1 before, during, and after the impact.

No excess emission from the impact was detected by SWAS. However, the water production rate of the comet showed large natural variations of more than a factor of three during the weeks before the impact.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509850 , 62kb)