Spectrophotometry of the deep impact ejecta of comet 9P/Tempel 1

Abstract

We have obtained optical spectrophotometry of the evolution of comet 9P/ Tempel 1 after the impact of the Deep Impact spacecraft [1], using the SNIFS Supernova Integral Field Spectrograph at the UH 2.2 m telescope. From the data-cubes, we extracted both continuum flux distributions as well as emission line fluxes of the violet CN system and of [OI].We found that the continuum brightness of the comet, i.e., scattered sunlight, started rising immediately after the impact, but that the ejecta were slightly bluer in color than the material normally released by the comet.The emission of [OI] at 630 nm, which is a tracer of water, rose similar to the scattered continuum light, but then remained nearly constant for several hours after impact. We found that CN emission at 388 nm centered on the nucleus was delayed compared to the rise of dust-scattered sunlight. This CN emission also expanded faster spatially than the cloud of scattering dust. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.