Deep Impact Realtime Thread Options

[MiniTES]

I also think NASA could have milked the publicity far more effectively than they actually did with just the one press conference. Although kudos must go out to the Deep Impact team for providing us space aficionados with images and animations within just minutes of impact.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

To "Mini-TES": actually, your second source -- an EXTREMELY useful-looking paper I'd never seen before (thanks) -- DOES list the colors of the two cameras' filters. It describes both cameras as having 9 filters, but only 7 color filters: the others probably include one clear filter, and one specialized one (such as polarized).

"Filters for the MRI (Hampton et al., this issue) are chosen to detect coma
components; five of the seven filters in the MRI camera set are narrow bands optimized for coma observations, leaving two wider bands centered at 750 and 850 nm matching those on the HRI. The HRI filters are set at 100 nm intervals between 350 and 950 nm, to determine visible color characteristics without detailed spectroscopy, which investigation is done by the infrared instrument. At visible (.4 to 1 µm) wavelengths, cometary nuclei exhibit a wide range of linear slopes (Jewitt 2002). Reasons for this diversity remain unclear."

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

As for an extended mission to a second comet; I carefully examined that statement at the press onference, and it definitely isn't a disavowal of it -- it's just a statement that whether or not they do it depends on whether they can scrounge the money from NASA. (I think they'd be fools not to, especially given the failure of CONTOUR and the fact that the DI spacecraft can spend most of its cruise time to the second comet in hibernation mode to save money.)

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

And as for the impact being precisely on July 4 (well, actually, July 3 U.S. time): A'Hearn once dropped the comment that this was "not accidental". Beyond that, I know nothing.

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

And here, finally, is the only additional data I was able to scrounge on Google about the cameras' filter wheels -- A'Hearn's brief descriptions of them:
pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/review/ comets200410/di/ditv_0004/catalog/inst_hrivis.cat

pds-smallbodies.astro.umd.edu/review/ comets200410/di/ditv_0004/catalog/inst_mrivis.cat

Both are described as having "two clear apertures" in addition to their color filters -- but the MRI is descri bed as having 8 color filters instead of 7. Since the description of the mission in Mini-TES' paper is more recent, it's probably correct in saying that the MRI was reduced to 7 filters. (There is a little more data on the exact nature of the filters in A'Hearn's descriptions, though.)

"Mini-TES'" paper is from the June issue of "Space Science Reviews", devoted entirely to this mission. Unfortunately, Hampton's article in that issue describing the MRI filters is not yet on the Web -- but another paper from that issue, on the nature of Tempel 1 itself, is also available already:
http://www.beltonspace.com/bsei_web_page_g000007.pdf

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

And here's a third one, which is useful in being the most detailed description yet of exactly what the hell they hoped to get out of this mission scientifically. I'll take a careful look at this before criticizing this mission again.

http://www.beltonspace.com/bsei_web_page_g000002.pdf

[slinted]

Bruce:
The pds site with the calibration data has a file describing the filters with a bit more detail :
http://pdssbn.astro.umd.edu/review/comets2...index/index.lbl
DESCRIPTION = "Provides the number of the commanded filter;
For HRIVIS:
Fil Filter Center
# Name (nm)
--- ------- ------
-9 N/A N/A; used for HRIIR
0,1 CLEAR1 650
2 BLUE 450
3 GREEN 550
4 VIOLET 350
5 IR 950
6 CLEAR6 650
7 RED 750
8 NIR 850
9 ORANGE 650

For MRIVIS:
Fil Filter Center
# Name (nm)
--- ------- ------
-9 N/A N/A; used for HRIIR
0,1 CLEAR1 650
2 C2 514
3 GREEN_CONT 526
4 RED 750
5 IR 950
6 CLEAR6 650
7 CN 387
8 VIOLET_CONT 345
9 OH 309

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Splendid! Thanks.

[Tman]

Maybe you want to get a deeper look at the impact area

http://www.greuti.ch/deepimpact/Tempel1_final_approach2.jpg

I'm not really sure about the location of the last picture. The small mound beside the dark "cave" don't fit exactly enough (to me).

[alan]

What small mound?

[Tman]

This one:

http://www.greuti.ch/deepimpact/Tempel1_final_approach3.jpg

I dont know. Other marks fit good therein. Probably it's the quality of the pictures that makes the differences.

[djf]

I'm not really sure about the location of the last picture. The small mound beside the dark "cave" don't fit exactly enough (to me).

Very nice collage image, Tman, thanks for posting.

I cannibalized it to show my impression about the orientation and location of the final frame you show at the bottom. I think one issue is that the impactor was rotating and wobbling near the end...

The attached image is pretty crude compared to most of what's posted here, but it was easier to show with an arrow on the images than describe in text.

Thoughts?

[alan]

Layers visible on crater wall

[Tman]

Since I saw this newer or other movie of the approach: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpa...pproach-x4.html
I would also say the impactor (camera) got a change, maybe because of an hit. I guess the primary direction of the impactor approach has been kept, but the camera turned toward the surface and showed then a "fly by" of the (more and more) nearer surface.

[4th rock from th...]

Layers visible on crater wall

Hum, I think that's an out of focus image
Bright edges can look double if your telescope is out of focus.