[meteorite-list] Observatories Brace For Deep Impact

[Ron Baalke]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jun/11/ln/ln02p.html

Observatories brace for Deep Impact
By Timothy Hurley 
Honolulu Advertiser 
June 11, 2005

Observatories in Hawai'i will play key roles in studying the July 3
collision of NASA's Deep Impact probe with a comet. And as a side
benefit, the people of Hawai'i will be able to witness the event as it
happens.

Every major telescope on Mauna Kea and a couple on Haleakala are gearing
up to observe the impact, which was intentionally scheduled by NASA to
give an optimum view to the high-powered Hawai'i telescopes.

In January, NASA launched a spacecraft the size of a subcompact car to
rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1 about 268 million miles from Earth. In
about three weeks, the spacecraft will shoot a probe to smash into the
side of the Tempel 1 at 23,000 mph in an experiment designed to find out
what's beneath the fuzzy exterior of a comet.

Before the impact, the comet - located in the night sky near two bright
objects, the star Spica and the planet Jupiter - will be too faint to
see without a telescope or a good pair of binoculars.

The 7:52 p.m. impact, however, may be visible to the naked eye,
producing a brief flash with a cloud of material that could remain
illuminated by the sun for hours or even days.

But this is an experiment, and no one can predict exactly what will
happen, said Gary Fujihara, science education and public outreach
officer for the University of Hawai'i's Institute for Astronomy.

Even if there is no visible result, there will be a scientific one,
Fujihara said, and observatories around the world - and especially in
Hawai'i - will be focused on that part of the sky July 3. The
ground-based telescopes will offer supplemental data to the information
obtained by the NASA space telescopes Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer, as
well as cameras on board the Deep Impact spacecraft.

Some of the telescopes on Mauna Kea already are focused on the comet,
gathering baseline data.

On Haleakala, the Advanced Electro-Optical System Telescope will be
observing the impact, as will educators and students from the United
Kingdom, Iceland and Hawai'i using the Faulkes Telescope North.

UH astronomer Karen Meech, a member of the Deep Impact Science Team, has
played two key roles for the mission.

First, she has studied the comet intensively since 1997 to learn more
about its orbit, size and shape, information needed to target the
spacecraft correctly. Also, she is responsible for coordinating the
worldwide Earth-based observations, including those on Mauna Kea, where
she will be posted during the impact.

Scientists say comets are important because they are time capsules that
hold clues to the formation and evolution of the solar system. They are
made of ice, gas and dust, which is the primitive debris from the solar
system's earliest and coldest period 4.5 billion years ago.

Deep Impact is the first mission to explore a comet's interior - where
the most unchanged materials are - by creating a crater that will let
scientists look deep inside.

"A few astronomers told me don't go overboard describing this," Fujihara
said. "But I want to hype it up, because it's a great opportunity to get
people excited about what we do."

The Institute for Astronomy is planning public events in Honolulu, Hilo
and Waimea and on Maui for those who wish to learn more and participate
in the event along with experienced astronomers.

Bishop Museum also has scheduled a special event for the impact, with
telescopes on the lawn and an informational program in its Planetarium.