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G. H. Jones (MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany), A. J. Coates (MSSL, UCL, Holmbury St. Mary, UK.), S. C. Lowry (QUB, Belfast, UK.), R. Sharp (AAO, Siding Spring, Australia), A. Fitzsimmons (QUB, Belfast, UK.), C. M. Lisse (JHUAPL, Laurel, MD, USA.)
We present the first results of observations of 9P/Tempel obtained around the time of the Deep Impact collision at the 2.5m Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma, Canary Islands, and the 1.24m UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring, Australia. The comet was imaged at the INT from July 1st-7th, 2005 for two hours each night with UBVr'i'O+ filters during photometric conditions, using a ~35 arcmin-wide field of view at a resolution of 0.33 arcsec/pixel. A change in the coma morphology was observed after impact; the nuclear jet structures changed as a result of the impact, and new jet structures were produced. For the UK Schmidt observations during the same period, we employed the 6dF multi-target spectroscopy system to obtain simultaneous medium-dispersion spectra of ~60 locations in and around the comet’s coma and tail at wavelengths of 390-760 nm, recording changes in the continuum level and the emission from several neutrals species. Each of the 6dF 6.7 arcsec-wide target fibres covered a region ~4300km wide at the comet. Both the INT and UKST datasets indicate that the impact produced more dust than gas relative to their pre-impact levels. A search was made for ion features several degrees downstream of the comet in both datasets. A preliminary inspection indicates that no ions were detected.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.