Deep Impact observations by the scientific imaging system OSIRIS of the Rosetta mission
Publication date: 01 February 2006
Authors: Keller, H., et al.
Journal: Proceedings of the IAUS229-ACM2005
Year: 2006
Copyright: CUP
ESA's Rosetta spacecraft was pointed towards the Deep Impact target comet Tempel 1 from 28 June to 14 July 2005. The OSIRIS cameras, the wide angle camera (WAC) and narrow angle camera (NAC) continuously observed the comet with high time resolution (down to less than a minute) around the impact on 4 July. The filter sets of the WAC were designed to observe the gas coma emissions whereas the NAC made broadband and panchromatic observations. The scale of the NAC at the comet was 1500 km per pixel. A strong increase of intensity (by almost a factor seven) was observed within a radius of one pixel centred on the nucleus position, followed by a short levelling, and a slow decrease back to the value before the impact. The WAC observed an increase in OH and CN. From this unique set of observations the total amount of excavated dust and water ice can be deduced and will be discussed.