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[16.15] Gas and dust Morphological Results from Narrowband Imaging of Deep Impact's Target Comet 9P/Tempel 1

L. M. Woodney (CSU San Bernardino), K. L. Barnes (Franklin and Marshall College), N. F. Baugh (U. Arizona), D. G. Schleicher (Lowell Obs.)

We present narrowband imaging results of Deep Impact target Comet 9P/Tempel 1. An on-going observational campaign from Lowell Observatory was begun in March to characterize the gas and dust morphology as a function of viewing geometry and season, and to investigate the newly released dust and gas as a function of time following the impact of the DI projectile. Prior to the encounter, dust imaging shows a persistent jet/fan, and evidence for rotational variations by early June. Fully calibrated, continuum-subtracted gas imaging reveals CN morphology which is not co-spatial with the dust jet/fans, but which also varies from night-to-night, presumably due to nucleus rotation. Representative images from throughout the apparition will be shown, along with results taken during an 11-day run centered on the time of the encounter.

This research is supported by NASA's Planetary Astronomy Program.

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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.