JCMT observations of the deep impact event

Abstract

Spectroscopic observations were made from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope of comet 9P/Tempel 1 before, during and after the impact by the NASA spacecraft Deep Impact on UT 04 July 2005. Several molecular species (HCN, CH3OH, CO, CS, HCO+) were targeted but none was detected. Nonetheless, upper limits on emission line strengths may weakly constrain the chemical composition of the ices in the excavated part of the comet nucleus. Preliminary analysis of the HCN data is presented here. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.