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DEEP NEWS
Newsletter for the Deep Impact mission
Issue #21, April 2005
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The Deep Impact twin spacecraft spent their third month heading toward Comet
Tempel 1. Having finished the Commissioning Phase of the mission, the team now
continues Cruise Phase. What are "Commissioning", "Cruise
Phase" and the Deep Impact mission, you ask? Read this month's newsletter
below and take a look at our mission web sites at:
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov
http://deepimpact.umd.edu
PICTURE THIS! NOW YOU SEE IT...!
In March, this picture was taken of Comet Tempel 1 as it began to develop a
dusty halo around its nucleus. This halo, called a coma, forms as a comet
approaches the Sun and its nucleus's surface heats releasing jets of gas and
dust.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/Tempel1030905.html
Find out more about how that coma forms on a comet:
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/science/comets.html
Comets
are visible for two reasons. Dust driven from a comet's nucleus reflects
sunlight as it travels through space. Secondly, certain gases, stimulated by
the sun, give off light like flourescent light bulbs. Over time a comet may
become less active or even dormant. Scientists are anxious to learn whether
comets exhaust their supply of gas and ice to space or seal it into their
interiors. What is the difference between the interior of a comet's nucleus and
its surface? Controlled cratering like that planned for Deep Impact allows a
look deep into the interior of the comet. Investigators anticipate that a look
inside comet Tempel 1 will unlock the treasures a comet has to offer.
Comet
Tempel 1 was discovered in 1867. Although few physical data are available, it
appears to be a comet with relatively little surface activity. Orbiting the sun
every 5.5 years, it has probably made more than one hundred passages through
the inner solar system. This makes it a good target to study evolutionary
change in the mantle or upper crust of the comet. Studies of brightness
variations with time indicate that the comet rotates much more slowly than
Earth. Its rotation will not take the impact crater out of the spacecraft's
field of view during the encounter period.
THE LATEST ON DEEP
IMPACT
The Deep Impact mission finished Commission Phase and moves on to Cruise Phase.
Read about the team's activities only months away from encounter with Comet
Tempel 1.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/update.html
AND PICTURE THIS! DOWN TO EARTH
Last month we showed you images of Jupiter taken by the Deep Impact
spacecraft's imaging instruments during testing in space. This month, we get a
little more "down to earth" by showing you a simulation of our own
planet, specifically, the side of Earth that will be able to watch impact
between the spacecraft and Comet Tempel 1 in July.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/Earth_view.html
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - MEET DR. LUCY MCFADDEN
When Lucy was in college, she chose a class because she couldn't understand
what radios and astronomy had to do with each other. The answer helped lead her
to a position as a science team member on Deep Impact. Lucy thinks you
shouldn't be afraid to ask questions - so let's ask her a few.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/bio-lmcfadden.html
FOOD FOR THOUGHT - COMET SNACKS THAT TEACH SCIENCE
Hey Kids, take a look at yummy snacks you can have fun making with your family,
school or whole community. You'll learn about comets, too! This would be very
cooool for your next carnival or community event.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/disczone/diner01.html
QUESTIONS FROM YOU - WHAT WILL WE SEE DURING ENCOUNTER?
Less than 3 months from encounter with Comet Tempel 1, this is the question we
get most often. So, we dedicated a whole section or our web site to give you
answers. Here is the: who, what, where, and when, about observing Deep Impact
in July 2005.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/faq5.html
SPRECHEN SIE DEUTCH?
Möchten sie die Deep Impact Mission in Deutsch lesen, schauen sie sich das
Merkblatt an.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/factsheet-deutsch.html
For a web page about Deep Impact in German, check out:
http://www.lutz-clausnitzer.de/wt/wtnasa/wtnasa.html
FOR EDUCATORS - YOUR STUDENTS CAN DO HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES THAT CONNECT THEM TO
REAL-LIFE SPACE EVENTS.
An independent evaluation group, Magnolia Consulting, is currently seeking
educators in both formal and informal settings to implement various educational
modules related to NASA's Deep Impact mission. The materials apply to a range
of student grades, from elementary through high school and implementation would
occur over a 1-3 week period this spring. Take a look at the details:
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/educ/Invitation_for_3_modules.doc
HAPPENINGS IN HAWAII
The Mauna Kea Astronomy Education Center will sponsor an educator workshop
combining the history of navigation in Hawaii and the science of the Deep
Impact mission during the last week of June 2005. To find out more about
"Astro-vaganza", check their web site at:
http://maunakea.hawaii.edu/menu.html
DID YOU SEE OUR PAST DEEP NEWS ISSUES?
Visit http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/newsletter/archive.html
to catch up on exciting past news from the Deep Impact mission.
Deep Impact is a Discovery mission. For more information on the Discovery
Program, visit:
http://discovery.nasa.gov/
The Deep Impact mission is a partnership among the University of Maryland
(UMD), the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
and Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp (BATC). Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery
mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly focused space science
investigations. See http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov or our mirror site at http://deepimpact.umd.edu .
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