|
Impact is scheduled for Monday July 4, at 7.52 am. On US Independence
Day, the Americans will crash their space projectile
Deep Impact into comet
Tempel 1. The crash will hopefully give more knowledge about the
interiors of comets, and many observatories around the globe are preparing
to follow the space drama. The European Southern Observatory will use
all its large telescopes to
monitor the event.
The Swedish satellite
Odin will also carefully study the impact. For about ninety orbits
Odin will monitor the comet Tempel 1 to study the evolution of water
production on the comet. Comets, which consist of large amounts of ice
and dust, are heated as they approach the Sun, and part of the ice is
then vaporized. Odin has already discovered water vapor around Tempel 1
this year, on June 18 and 23: as much as 240 kg of water vapor is produced
by Tempel 1 every second. The question is how much this production will
increase through the collision with the space projectile - this can in turn
provide information on the structure of the comet. Odin begins the critical
observations at 15.18 on Sunday, July 3 and will monitor continuously
until 22.14 on Tuesday, July 5. Tempel 1 will then be observed several times
per week to the end of July.
|
