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Ganymede's Khensu Crater
title Ganymede's Khensu Crater
date 09.06.1996
description The dark-floored crater Khensu is the target of this image of Ganymede. The Solid-State Imaging System onboard the Galileo spacecraft imaged this region as it passed Ganymede during its second orbit through the jovian system. Khensu is located at 20N latitude and 1530W longitude in a region of bright terrain known as Uruk Sulcus, and is about 13 kilometers in diameter. Like some other craters on Ganymede, it possesses an unusually dark floor and a bright ejecta blanket. The dark component may be residual material from the impactor that formed the crater. Another possibility is that the impactor may have punched through the bright surface to reveal a dark layer beneath. Another large crater named El is partly visible in the top righthand corner of the image. This crater is 54 kilometers in diameter and has a small "pit" in its center. Craters with such a "central pit" are common across Ganymede and are especially intriguing since they may reveal secrets about the structure of the satellite's shallow subsurface. North is to the upper left of the picture, and the Sun illuminates the surface from nearly overhead. The image covers an area about 100 by 86 kilometers across at a resolution of 111 meters per picture element. The image was taken on September 6, 1996, by the Solid-State Imaging System onboard the Galileo spacecraft. *Image Credit*: Brown University
Europa, Ganymede, and Callis …
PIA01656
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto: Surface comparison at high spatial resolution
Original Caption Released with Image Ganymede's youngest large craters would have been created only about one billion years ago. Europa's surface in this model should be very young, with this satellite being geologically quite active even today. The images were taken by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft. They were processed by the Institute of Planetary Exploration of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Berlin, Germany, and scaled to a size of 150 meters per pixel (m/pixel). North is up in all images. The spatial resolution of the original data was 180 m/pixel for Europa and Ganymede and 90 m/pixel for Callisto. The Europa image was taken during Galileo's 6th orbit, the Ganymede image during the 7th, and the Callisto image during the 10th orbit. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ]., These images show a comparison of the surfaces of the three icy Galilean satellites, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, scaled to a common resolution of 150 meters per picture element (pixel). Despite the similar distance of 0.8 billion kilometers to the sun, their surfaces show dramatic differences. Callisto (with a diameter of 4817 kilometers) is "peppered" by impact craters, but is also covered by a dark material layer of so far unknown origin, as seen here in the region of the Asgard multi-ring basin. It appears that this layer erodes or covers small craters. Ganymede's landscape is also widely formed by impacts, but different from Callisto, much tectonic deformation can be observed in the Galileo images, such as these of Nicholson Regio. Ganymede, with a diameter of 5268 kilometers (one-and-a-half times larger than the Earth's moon), is the largest moon in the solar system. Contrary to Ganymede and Callisto, Europa (diameter 3121 kilometers) has a sparsely cratered surface, indicating that geologic activity took place more recently. Globally, ridged plains and the so-called "mottled terrain" are the main landforms. In the high-resolution image presented here showing the area around the Agave and Asterius dark lineaments, older ridges dominate the surface, while a small part of the younger mottled terrain is visible to the lower left of the image center. While all three moons are believed to be nearly as old as the solar system (4.5 billion years), the age of the surfaces, i.e. the time since the last major geologic activity took place, is still subject to debate. Without having surface samples in hand, the only method to roughly determine a planet's or satellite's geologic surface age is by crater counting. However, assumptions about the impactor fluxes must be made based on theoretical models and possible observations of candidate impactors such as asteroids and comets. Asteroids should have been very common in the early days of the solar system, but this source should have been largely exhausted by about 3.8 billion years before present. For comets, the impactor flux is believed to be rather constant throughout the whole lifetime of the solar system, meaning that the probability of an impact of a large comet is similar today as it was, say, four billion years ago. Assuming the asteroids have been the dominant bodies that impacted the Galilean satellites (which is believed to be the case on the Moon, the Earth, and other inner solar system bodies as well as within the asteroid belt itself), the surfaces of Ganymede and Callisto must be old, roughly four billion years. In this case, the Europan surface would by comparison have a mean age of one-hundred to several-hundred million years. Low-level geologic activity on Europa might be possible, but Ganymede and Callisto should be geologically dead. Assuming on the other hand that comets have been the main impactors in the Jovian system, Callisto's surface would still be determined to be old, but
The Road to Tempel (Artist's …
PIA02106
Sol (our sun)
Title The Road to Tempel (Artist's Concept)
Original Caption Released with Image "" Quick Time Movie for PIA02106 The Road to Tempel This animation chronicles the travels of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, from its launch in January of 2005 to its dramatic impact 172 days later with comet Tempel 1. The times listed below were updated on July 2, 2005, and differ from those referred to in the animation. The final phase of the mission, called the encounter phase, includes two targeting maneuvers, the last of which occurs at 5:07 p.m. Pacific time (8:07 p.m. Eastern time), July 2. Six hours later, the spacecraft releases an impactor into the path of the charging comet. Twelve minutes later, the remaining craft, called the flyby, steers itself away from the comet's path. The free impactor then autonomously fine-tunes its trajectory, with the goal of hitting the sunlit side of Tempel 1. Impact is scheduled to occur at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4). The flyby spacecraft will watch the collision from the sidelines, snapping pictures up to 13 minutes after impact. At that point, the craft stops taking images and enters a protective mode, in which its shields block dust from the comet's inner coma. Fifty-nine minutes after impact, the flyby turns around for one last photo opportunity.
Double Impact
PIA03651
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Double Impact
Original Caption Released with Image 19 December 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows two craters that formed at the same time by a split meteoritic impactor. Long after they formed, these craters have been eroded, degraded, and other materials have been deposited on and within them. "Location near": 35.0°S, 328.0°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi)"Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Summer
Kittu Dark Ray Crater
PIA01611
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Kittu Dark Ray Crater
Original Caption Released with Image View of the dark ray crater Kittu on Jupiter's moon, Ganymede. Kittu is seen in approximately true color, as imaged with the Galileo camera's violet, one micrometer, and near infrared filters. The crater shows a bright white central peak and rim, and dark brownish material surrounding it. Diffuse dark rays, sprinkled thinly atop surrounding grooved terrain, emanate from the impact site. The dark material dusted over the surface is probably part of a dark impactor (asteroid or comet) which was strewn across the surface upon impact. The impactor hit grooved terrain, and a straight segment of the crater's rim was created when a portion of the rim collapsed along the trend of an older fault. North is to the bottom of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from the left. The mosaic, centered at 0 degrees latitude and 335 degrees longitude, covers an area approximately 70 by 100 kilometers. The resolution in the color portion of this image is about 280 meters per picture element, while the resolution in the black and white portion is 145 meters per picture element. The images were taken beginning on April 5, 1997 from 6 hours, 39 minutes, 46 seconds Universal Time at a range of 14252 kilometers by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ]
Craters on South Polar Layer …
PIA09670
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Craters on South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger version This subimage, about 2.5 km across, shows the south polar layered deposits exposed in a scarp illuminated from the lower right. This HiRISE image (PSP_002882_0940 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002882_0940 ]) was taken in the southern spring, when the surface was completely covered by carbon dioxide frost. Therefore, most of the brightness variations in this scene are caused by topography. The polar layered deposits are broken into blocks by fractures in two directions. Neither set of fractures is parallel to the current scarp face, suggesting that they were not formed as the scarp was eroded, but instead are due to pre-existing weaknesses in the polar layered deposits. The four craters at lower left appear to have formed at the same time by an impactor that broke up as it entered the Martian atmosphere. The presence of many craters such as these on the south polar layered deposits indicates that they are not as young as the north polar layered deposits, which have very few craters on them. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:06 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -85.9° Degrees longitude (East): 303.4° Range to target site: 246.9 km (154.3 miles) Original image scale range: 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 6.7° Phase angle: 78.5° Solar incidence angle: 84°, with the Sun about 6° above the horizon Solar longitude: 196.9°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Craters on South Polar Layer …
PIA09670
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Craters on South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger version This subimage, about 2.5 km across, shows the south polar layered deposits exposed in a scarp illuminated from the lower right. This HiRISE image (PSP_002882_0940 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002882_0940 ]) was taken in the southern spring, when the surface was completely covered by carbon dioxide frost. Therefore, most of the brightness variations in this scene are caused by topography. The polar layered deposits are broken into blocks by fractures in two directions. Neither set of fractures is parallel to the current scarp face, suggesting that they were not formed as the scarp was eroded, but instead are due to pre-existing weaknesses in the polar layered deposits. The four craters at lower left appear to have formed at the same time by an impactor that broke up as it entered the Martian atmosphere. The presence of many craters such as these on the south polar layered deposits indicates that they are not as young as the north polar layered deposits, which have very few craters on them. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:06 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -85.9° Degrees longitude (East): 303.4° Range to target site: 246.9 km (154.3 miles) Original image scale range: 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 6.7° Phase angle: 78.5° Solar incidence angle: 84°, with the Sun about 6° above the horizon Solar longitude: 196.9°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Craters on South Polar Layer …
PIA09670
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title Craters on South Polar Layered Deposits
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger version This subimage, about 2.5 km across, shows the south polar layered deposits exposed in a scarp illuminated from the lower right. This HiRISE image (PSP_002882_0940 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002882_0940 ]) was taken in the southern spring, when the surface was completely covered by carbon dioxide frost. Therefore, most of the brightness variations in this scene are caused by topography. The polar layered deposits are broken into blocks by fractures in two directions. Neither set of fractures is parallel to the current scarp face, suggesting that they were not formed as the scarp was eroded, but instead are due to pre-existing weaknesses in the polar layered deposits. The four craters at lower left appear to have formed at the same time by an impactor that broke up as it entered the Martian atmosphere. The presence of many craters such as these on the south polar layered deposits indicates that they are not as young as the north polar layered deposits, which have very few craters on them. Observation Toolbox Acquisition date: 3 March 2007 Local Mars time: 7:06 PM Degrees latitude (centered): -85.9° Degrees longitude (East): 303.4° Range to target site: 246.9 km (154.3 miles) Original image scale range: 24.7 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~74 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: POLAR STEREOGRAPHIC Emission angle: 6.7° Phase angle: 78.5° Solar incidence angle: 84°, with the Sun about 6° above the horizon Solar longitude: 196.9°, Northern Autumn NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Large Impact Structures on E …
PIA01661
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Large Impact Structures on Europa
Original Caption Released with Image The picture compares four large impact structures on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. Clockwise, from top left, are Pwyll, Cilix, Tyre, and Mannann'an. Impact structures with diameters of more than 20 kilometers are rather rare on Europa. Tyre is most unusual. While the effective crater, which is somewhat larger than the prominent large bull's eye feature, is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) across, the entire structure is much larger. The concentric rings display relatively little relief. Some of the smaller craters near Tyre were formed by material ejected by and then redeposited from the impact which formed Tyre. One hypothesis for such characteristics is that the impactor which formed Tyre penetrated through an icy crust into a less brittle layer. While Pwyll, Cilix, and Mannann'an also display shallow crater depths for their size, they more closely resemble similar sized craters on two neighboring moons of Jupiter, Ganymede and Callisto. Perhaps the impactor did not punch through the upper crust during these events. This might have been the case if the impacting body was smaller or weaker than in the case of Tyre or if the crust was thinner at the location of Tyre during the impact event. North is to the top of the picture. The sun illuminates the surfaces from the right, except for Tyre, where the sun illuminates the surface from the left. The horizontal and vertical grey lines in the Tyre mosaic indicate gaps in the data received for this image. The Pwyll image was taken on December 16, 1997, Cilix on May 31, 1998,Tyre on March 29, 1998, and Mannann'an on March 29, 1998. All images were taken by the Solid State Imaging (SSI) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URLhttp://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov ]. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URLhttp://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo ]
Asymmetric Crater
PIA04945
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys …
Title Asymmetric Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Released 18 December 2003 Asymmetric craters such as the one in the center of this image are fairly rare. The more typical symmetric craters are formed when meteors impact a surface over a wide range of angles. Only very low impact angles (within 15° of horizontal) result in asymmetric structures such as this one. The bilateral symmetry of the ejecta, like two wings on either side of the elliptical crater, is typical of oblique impacts. The small crater downrange from the main crater could have been caused by the impactor breaking apart before impact or possibly a 'decapitation' of the impactor as it hit with the 'head' traveling farther to form the smaller structure. Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -8.5, Longitude 227.5 East (132.5 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Asymmetric Crater
PIA04945
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys …
Title Asymmetric Crater
Original Caption Released with Image Released 18 December 2003 Asymmetric craters such as the one in the center of this image are fairly rare. The more typical symmetric craters are formed when meteors impact a surface over a wide range of angles. Only very low impact angles (within 15° of horizontal) result in asymmetric structures such as this one. The bilateral symmetry of the ejecta, like two wings on either side of the elliptical crater, is typical of oblique impacts. The small crater downrange from the main crater could have been caused by the impactor breaking apart before impact or possibly a 'decapitation' of the impactor as it hit with the 'head' traveling farther to form the smaller structure. Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude -8.5, Longitude 227.5 East (132.5 West). 19 meter/pixel resolution. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Venus - Lakshmi Region
PIA00082
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Radar
Title Venus - Lakshmi Region
Original Caption Released with Image This Magellan image is centered at 55 degrees north latitude, 348.5 degrees longitude, in the eastern Lakshmi region of Venus. This image, which is of an area 300 kilometers (180 miles) in width and 230 kilometers (138 miles) in length, is a mosaic of orbits 458 through 484. The image shows a relatively flat plains region composed of many lava flows. The dark flows mostly likely represent smooth lava flows similar to 'pahoehoe' flows on Earth while the brighter lava flows are rougher flows similar to 'aa' flows on Earth. (The terms 'pahoehoe' and 'aa' refer to textures of lava with pahoehoe a smooth or ropey surface, and aa a rough, clinkery texture). The rougher flows are brighter because the rough surface returns more energy to the radar than the smooth flows. Situated on top of the lava flows are three dark splotches. Because of the thick Venusian atmosphere, the small impactors break up before they reached the surface. Only the fragments from the broken up impactor are deposited on the surface and these fragments produce the dark splotches in this image. The splotch at the far right (east) has a crater centered in it, indicating that the impactor was not completely destroyed during its journey through the atmosphere. The dark splotches in the center and to the far left in this image each represent an impactor that was broken up into small fragments that did not penetrate the surface to produce a crater. The dark splotch at the left has been modified by the wind. A southwest northeast wind flow has moved some of the debris making up the splotch to the northeast where it has piled up against some small ridges.
Venus - Impact Crater in Eas …
PIA00474
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Radar
Title Venus - Impact Crater in Eastern Navka Region
Original Caption Released with Image This Magellan image, which is 50 kilometers (31 miles) in width and 80 kilometers (50 miles) in length, is centered at 11.9 degrees latitude, 352 degrees longitude in the eastern Navka Region of Venus. The crater, which is approximately 8 kilometers (5 miles) in diameter, displays a butterfly symmetry pattern. The ejecta pattern most likely results from an oblique impact, where the impactor came from the south and ejected material to the north.
Venus - Complex Crater 'Dick …
PIA00479
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Radar
Title Venus - Complex Crater 'Dickinson' in NE Atalanta Region
Original Caption Released with Image This Magellan image is centered at 74.6 degrees north latitude and 177.3 east longitude, in the northeastern Atalanta Region of Venus. The image is approximately 185 kilometers (115 miles) wide at the base and shows Dickinson, an impact crater 69 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter. The crater is complex, characterized by a partial central ring and a floor flooded by radar-dark and radar-bright materials. Hummocky, rough-textured ejecta extend all around the crater, except to the west. The lack of ejecta to the west may indicate that the impactor that produced the crater was an oblique impact from the west. Extensive radar-bright flows that emanate from the crater's eastern walls may represent large volumes of impact melt, or they may be the result of volcanic material released from the subsurface during the cratering event.
Khensu Crater on Ganymede
PIA01090
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Khensu Crater on Ganymede
Original Caption Released with Image The dark-floored crater, Khensu, is the target of this image of Ganymede. The solid state imaging camera on NASA's Galileo spacecraft imaged this region as it passed Ganymede during its second orbit through the Jovian system. Khensu is located at 2 degrees latitude and 153 degrees longitude in a region of bright terrain known as Uruk Sulcus, and is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) in diameter. Like some other craters on Ganymede, it possesses an unusually dark floor and a bright ejecta blanket. The dark component may be residual material from the impactor that formed the crater. Another possibility is that the impactor may have punched through the bright surface to reveal a dark layer beneath. Another large crater named El is partly visible in the top-right corner of the image. This crater is 54 kilometers (34 miles) in diameter and has a small "pit" in its center. Craters with such a "central pit" are common across Ganymede and are especially intriguing since they may reveal secrets about the structure of the satellite's shallow subsurface. North is to the top-left of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from nearly overhead. The image covers an area about 100 kilometers (62 miles) by 86 kilometers (54 miles) across at a resolution of 111 meters (370 feet) per picture element. The image was taken on September 6, 1996 by the solid state imaging (CCD) system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov.
We're Going In!
PIA02125
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title We're Going In!
Original Caption Released with Image "" Quick Time Movie for PIA02125 We're Going In! This movie shows Deep Impact's impactor probe approaching comet Tempel 1. It is made up of images taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor. The probe collided with the comet at10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4).
Impactor Eyes Comet Target
PIA02116
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Impactor Eyes Comet Target
Original Caption Released with Image Comet Tempel 1 as seen by the Deep Impact impactor targeting sensor at 7:44 Universal Time, July 3, 2005. This image was taken 1 hour and 37 minutes after the impactor was released from the flyby craft and is displayed on a logarithmic scale. The impactor was 808,478 kilometers (502,388 miles) away from the comet when the image was taken.
Separation Anxiety Over for …
PIA02115
Sol (our sun)
Medium Resolution Imager (MR …
Title Separation Anxiety Over for Deep Impact
Original Caption Released with Image This image of Deep Impact's impactor probe was taken by the mission's mother ship, or flyby spacecraft, after the two separated at 11:07 p.m. Pacific time, July 2 (2:07 a.m. Eastern time, July 3). The impactor is scheduled to collide with comet Tempel 1 at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4). The impactor can be seen at the center of the image.
So Close You Can Almost Touc …
PIA02128
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title So Close You Can Almost Touch It
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows the view from Deep Impact's probe 90 seconds before it was pummeled by comet Tempel 1. The image was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
Blinded by the Jets
PIA02126
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Blinded by the Jets
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows the view from Deep Impact's probe 30 minutes before it was pummeled by comet Tempel 1. The picture's brightness has been enhanced to show the jets of dust streaming away from the comet. The image was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
X-ray Eyes on Tempel
PIA02118
Sol (our sun)
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Title X-ray Eyes on Tempel
Original Caption Released with Image Figure 1: X-ray Eyes on Tempel This false-color image shows comet Tempel 1 as seen by Chandra X-ray Observatory on June 30, 2005, Universal Time. The comet was bright and condensed. The X-rays observed from comets are caused by an interaction between highly charged oxygen in the solar wind and neutral gases from the comet. The observatory detected X-rays with an energy of 0.3 to 1.0 kilo electron Volts. The bulk of the X-rays were between 0.5 and 0.7 kilo electron Volts. Chandra will observe the comet for 18 hours during and after the time when NASA's Deep Impact impactor probe collides with Tempel 1 at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4). The material ejected from the crater could cause the interaction region, and thus the X-ray emission, to move toward the Sun.
X-ray Eyes on Tempel
PIA02118
Sol (our sun)
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Title X-ray Eyes on Tempel
Original Caption Released with Image Figure 1: X-ray Eyes on Tempel This false-color image shows comet Tempel 1 as seen by Chandra X-ray Observatory on June 30, 2005, Universal Time. The comet was bright and condensed. The X-rays observed from comets are caused by an interaction between highly charged oxygen in the solar wind and neutral gases from the comet. The observatory detected X-rays with an energy of 0.3 to 1.0 kilo electron Volts. The bulk of the X-rays were between 0.5 and 0.7 kilo electron Volts. Chandra will observe the comet for 18 hours during and after the time when NASA's Deep Impact impactor probe collides with Tempel 1 at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4). The material ejected from the crater could cause the interaction region, and thus the X-ray emission, to move toward the Sun.
Before the Crash
PIA02124
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Before the Crash
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows comet Tempel 1 six minutes before it ran over NASA's Deep Impact probe at 10:52 a.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4). The picture was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
Untouched Tempel
PIA02129
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Untouched Tempel
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows the view from Deep Impact's probe 30 seconds before it was pummeled by comet Tempel 1. The image was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
Face-to-Face With a Comet
PIA02120
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Face-to-Face With a Comet
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows comet Tempel 1 sixty seconds before it ran over NASA's Deep Impact probe at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4). The picture was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
Moment of Impact
PIA02131
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Moment of Impact
Original Caption Released with Image When NASA's Deep Impact probe collided with Tempel 1, a bright, small flash was created, which rapidly expanded above the surface of the comet. This flash lasted for more than a second. Its overall brightness is close to that predicted by several models. After the initial flash, there was a pause before a bright plume quickly extended above the comet surface. The debris from the impact eventually cast a long shadow across the surface, indicating a narrow plume of ejected material, rather than a wide cone. The Deep Impact probe appears to have struck deep, before gases were heated and explosively released. The impact crater was observed to grow in size over time. A preliminary interpretation of these data indicate that the upper surface of the comet may be fluffy, or highly porous. The observed sequence of impact events is similar to laboratory experiments using highly porous targets, especially those that are rich in volatile substances. The duration of the hot, luminous gas phase, as well as the continued growth of the crater over time, all point to a model consistent with a large crater. This image was taken by Deep Impact's medium-resolution camera.
Wipe Out
PIA02138
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title Wipe Out
Original Caption Released with Image This image of the surface of comet Tempel 1 was taken about 20 seconds before Deep Impact's probe crashed into the comet at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3. This particular region contains the impact site. The bright patches in the image may consist of very smooth and reflective material, the composition of which will be determined by Deep Impact's spectrometer. Dark areas are in shadow and provide information about surface topography. Higher terrain appears rough relative to lower areas that appear very smooth. Is this a layered surface? And how did the smooth regions form? These are some of the questions the science team plans to address. This image was taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor.
A Cyber-Astronaut's Final Mo …
PIA02136
Sol (our sun)
Autonomous Navigation System
Title A Cyber-Astronaut's Final Moves
Original Caption Released with Image This image shows how Deep Impact's impactor targeted comet Tempel 1 as the spacecraft made its final approach in the early morning hours of July 4, Eastern time. The autonomous navigation system on the probe was designed to make as many as three impactor targeting maneuvers, identified as ITMs in this picture, to correct its course to the comet. The upper left dot indicates where the probe would have passed the comet's nucleus if no maneuvers were performed. The dot below the nucleus shows where the probe would have flown past the comet if only the first maneuver was made. The leftmost dot on the nucleus marks the spot where the probe would have crunched the comet if only the first two maneuvers had been performed. The lower dot on the nucleus indicates the vicinity where, once the third maneuver was performed, the probe met its final reward and collided with the comet.
Tempel Alive with Light
PIA02137
Sol (our sun)
High Resolution Imager (HRI)
Title Tempel Alive with Light
Original Caption Released with Image This spectacular image of comet Tempel 1 was taken 67 seconds after it obliterated Deep Impact's impactor spacecraft. The image was taken by the high-resolution camera on the mission's flyby craft. Scattered light from the collision saturated the camera's detector, creating the bright splash seen here. Linear spokes of light radiate away from the impact site, while reflected sunlight illuminates most of the comet surface. The image reveals topographic features, including ridges, scalloped edges and possibly impact craters formed long ago.
New Craters
PIA09020
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title New Craters
Original Caption Released with Image Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., The Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera has found that meteorites are hitting the Martian surface and forming new craters all the time. If you were living on Mars, chances are that within 10 or 20 years, an impact would occur close enough to where you live that you'd notice it -- perhaps you'd hear the impact and it would startle you out of your seat. A year ago, it had not occurred to the camera team that they could find places on Mars where meteorites had impacted the surface during the course of the mission. Such craters, if they were forming at all, would be a few meters to a few tens of meters across, much too small to notice (or so they thought) in the wide-angle camera coverage. But, on Jan. 9, 2006, they began to realize that not only could we find such craters, we might also be able to characterize the present-day impact cratering rate on Mars. Surveying for fresh craters formed during the mission would provide the first direct observation -- for any body in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon -- of the present-day cratering rate. This in turn can help test models used all the time by members of the scientific community to estimate the age of features on planetary surfaces. The first fresh impact site, shown on this page, was first noticed on Jan. 9, 2006, in an image acquired three days earlier. The image was acquired by the wide-angle camera at its highest possible spatial resolution, about 240 meters (262 yards) per pixel. To the northwest of the area imaged by the narrow-angle camera, the red, wide-angle context frame showed a dark spot. This spot was not present in any previous image acquired by any spacecraft, from Mariner 9 (which arrived in 1971) on down through Mars Express (which arrived in 2003). Figure A: The first figure shows two red, wide-angle camera context images. The first was taken on June 9, 2001, several years before the impact occurred. The second is the "discovery" image, acquired on January 6, 2006. In both cases, a white box indicates the location of the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow-angle image for which the context image was obtained. For scale, the white boxes are 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide. Figure B: In this image, North is up in this map-projected view. The single, broad dark streak that emanates from the impact site and points toward the southwest (lower left) may indicate either the direction that the meteor came from, or its opposite. If it represents the direction that the impactor came from, then the streak results from disruption of dust on the Martian surface as the object came in. If the opposite, then it represents the direction that material was blasted from the impact site, away from the direction that the meteor came. In either case, the impactor came in at a somewhat oblique angle, and broke up just before hitting the ground, because it formed multiple small craters. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's
New Craters
PIA09020
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title New Craters
Original Caption Released with Image Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., The Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera has found that meteorites are hitting the Martian surface and forming new craters all the time. If you were living on Mars, chances are that within 10 or 20 years, an impact would occur close enough to where you live that you'd notice it -- perhaps you'd hear the impact and it would startle you out of your seat. A year ago, it had not occurred to the camera team that they could find places on Mars where meteorites had impacted the surface during the course of the mission. Such craters, if they were forming at all, would be a few meters to a few tens of meters across, much too small to notice (or so they thought) in the wide-angle camera coverage. But, on Jan. 9, 2006, they began to realize that not only could we find such craters, we might also be able to characterize the present-day impact cratering rate on Mars. Surveying for fresh craters formed during the mission would provide the first direct observation -- for any body in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon -- of the present-day cratering rate. This in turn can help test models used all the time by members of the scientific community to estimate the age of features on planetary surfaces. The first fresh impact site, shown on this page, was first noticed on Jan. 9, 2006, in an image acquired three days earlier. The image was acquired by the wide-angle camera at its highest possible spatial resolution, about 240 meters (262 yards) per pixel. To the northwest of the area imaged by the narrow-angle camera, the red, wide-angle context frame showed a dark spot. This spot was not present in any previous image acquired by any spacecraft, from Mariner 9 (which arrived in 1971) on down through Mars Express (which arrived in 2003). Figure A: The first figure shows two red, wide-angle camera context images. The first was taken on June 9, 2001, several years before the impact occurred. The second is the "discovery" image, acquired on January 6, 2006. In both cases, a white box indicates the location of the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow-angle image for which the context image was obtained. For scale, the white boxes are 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide. Figure B: In this image, North is up in this map-projected view. The single, broad dark streak that emanates from the impact site and points toward the southwest (lower left) may indicate either the direction that the meteor came from, or its opposite. If it represents the direction that the impactor came from, then the streak results from disruption of dust on the Martian surface as the object came in. If the opposite, then it represents the direction that material was blasted from the impact site, away from the direction that the meteor came. In either case, the impactor came in at a somewhat oblique angle, and broke up just before hitting the ground, because it formed multiple small craters. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's
New Craters
PIA09020
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title New Craters
Original Caption Released with Image Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., The Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera has found that meteorites are hitting the Martian surface and forming new craters all the time. If you were living on Mars, chances are that within 10 or 20 years, an impact would occur close enough to where you live that you'd notice it -- perhaps you'd hear the impact and it would startle you out of your seat. A year ago, it had not occurred to the camera team that they could find places on Mars where meteorites had impacted the surface during the course of the mission. Such craters, if they were forming at all, would be a few meters to a few tens of meters across, much too small to notice (or so they thought) in the wide-angle camera coverage. But, on Jan. 9, 2006, they began to realize that not only could we find such craters, we might also be able to characterize the present-day impact cratering rate on Mars. Surveying for fresh craters formed during the mission would provide the first direct observation -- for any body in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon -- of the present-day cratering rate. This in turn can help test models used all the time by members of the scientific community to estimate the age of features on planetary surfaces. The first fresh impact site, shown on this page, was first noticed on Jan. 9, 2006, in an image acquired three days earlier. The image was acquired by the wide-angle camera at its highest possible spatial resolution, about 240 meters (262 yards) per pixel. To the northwest of the area imaged by the narrow-angle camera, the red, wide-angle context frame showed a dark spot. This spot was not present in any previous image acquired by any spacecraft, from Mariner 9 (which arrived in 1971) on down through Mars Express (which arrived in 2003). Figure A: The first figure shows two red, wide-angle camera context images. The first was taken on June 9, 2001, several years before the impact occurred. The second is the "discovery" image, acquired on January 6, 2006. In both cases, a white box indicates the location of the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow-angle image for which the context image was obtained. For scale, the white boxes are 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide. Figure B: In this image, North is up in this map-projected view. The single, broad dark streak that emanates from the impact site and points toward the southwest (lower left) may indicate either the direction that the meteor came from, or its opposite. If it represents the direction that the impactor came from, then the streak results from disruption of dust on the Martian surface as the object came in. If the opposite, then it represents the direction that material was blasted from the impact site, away from the direction that the meteor came. In either case, the impactor came in at a somewhat oblique angle, and broke up just before hitting the ground, because it formed multiple small craters. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's
New Craters
PIA09020
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title New Craters
Original Caption Released with Image Office of Space Science, Washington, by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., a division of the California Institute of Technology, also in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, developed and operates the spacecraft. Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif., built and operates the Mars Orbiter Camera. For more information about images from the Mars Orbiter Camera, see http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html [ http://www.msss.com/mgs/moc/index.html ]., The Mars Global Surveyor's Mars Orbiter Camera has found that meteorites are hitting the Martian surface and forming new craters all the time. If you were living on Mars, chances are that within 10 or 20 years, an impact would occur close enough to where you live that you'd notice it -- perhaps you'd hear the impact and it would startle you out of your seat. A year ago, it had not occurred to the camera team that they could find places on Mars where meteorites had impacted the surface during the course of the mission. Such craters, if they were forming at all, would be a few meters to a few tens of meters across, much too small to notice (or so they thought) in the wide-angle camera coverage. But, on Jan. 9, 2006, they began to realize that not only could we find such craters, we might also be able to characterize the present-day impact cratering rate on Mars. Surveying for fresh craters formed during the mission would provide the first direct observation -- for any body in the solar system, including Earth and its Moon -- of the present-day cratering rate. This in turn can help test models used all the time by members of the scientific community to estimate the age of features on planetary surfaces. The first fresh impact site, shown on this page, was first noticed on Jan. 9, 2006, in an image acquired three days earlier. The image was acquired by the wide-angle camera at its highest possible spatial resolution, about 240 meters (262 yards) per pixel. To the northwest of the area imaged by the narrow-angle camera, the red, wide-angle context frame showed a dark spot. This spot was not present in any previous image acquired by any spacecraft, from Mariner 9 (which arrived in 1971) on down through Mars Express (which arrived in 2003). Figure A: The first figure shows two red, wide-angle camera context images. The first was taken on June 9, 2001, several years before the impact occurred. The second is the "discovery" image, acquired on January 6, 2006. In both cases, a white box indicates the location of the Mars Orbiter Camera narrow-angle image for which the context image was obtained. For scale, the white boxes are 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) wide. Figure B: In this image, North is up in this map-projected view. The single, broad dark streak that emanates from the impact site and points toward the southwest (lower left) may indicate either the direction that the meteor came from, or its opposite. If it represents the direction that the impactor came from, then the streak results from disruption of dust on the Martian surface as the object came in. If the opposite, then it represents the direction that material was blasted from the impact site, away from the direction that the meteor came. In either case, the impactor came in at a somewhat oblique angle, and broke up just before hitting the ground, because it formed multiple small craters. The 300-meter scale bar represents 328 yards. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's
A Field of Secondary Craters
PIA09584
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title A Field of Secondary Craters
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_002281_2115 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002281_2115 ]) shows a secondary crater field. Secondary craters form when material ejected from a larger impact event impacts the Martian surface. One impact event, depending on the size of the impactor, can form hundreds of millions of secondary craters at essentially the same time. Primary craters (those created directly from an impactor from space) can be the same size as secondary craters, which makes dating surfaces based on the number of accumulated craters difficult to near-impossible. Secondary craters are distinguished from primaries based on their morphologies. They are sometimes irregularly shaped, as seen in this image, because they form at relatively low velocities. The velocity of the impactor determines a crater's size, shape, and depth, with lower energy impacts forming shallow, less-developed craters and higher energy impacts forming deeper, more regular craters. Secondary craters often occur in clusters, as seen here, as a piece of ejecta breaks up before hitting the surface. Primary craters form at random locations globally. Secondary clusters are more likely to be found in groups because of their formation mechanism. Observation Geometry Acquisition date: 1 January 2007 Local Mars time: 3:34 PM Degrees latitude (centered): 31.1 ° Degrees longitude (East): 89.7 ° Range to target site: 291.1 km (181.9 miles) Original image scale range: 29.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~87 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 0.2 ° Phase angle: 57.1 ° Solar incidence angle: 57 °, with the Sun about 33 ° above the horizon Solar longitude: 170.2 °, Northern Summer NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
A Field of Secondary Craters
PIA09584
Sol (our sun)
HiRISE
Title A Field of Secondary Craters
Original Caption Released with Image Click on image for larger version This HiRISE image (PSP_002281_2115 [ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_002281_2115 ]) shows a secondary crater field. Secondary craters form when material ejected from a larger impact event impacts the Martian surface. One impact event, depending on the size of the impactor, can form hundreds of millions of secondary craters at essentially the same time. Primary craters (those created directly from an impactor from space) can be the same size as secondary craters, which makes dating surfaces based on the number of accumulated craters difficult to near-impossible. Secondary craters are distinguished from primaries based on their morphologies. They are sometimes irregularly shaped, as seen in this image, because they form at relatively low velocities. The velocity of the impactor determines a crater's size, shape, and depth, with lower energy impacts forming shallow, less-developed craters and higher energy impacts forming deeper, more regular craters. Secondary craters often occur in clusters, as seen here, as a piece of ejecta breaks up before hitting the surface. Primary craters form at random locations globally. Secondary clusters are more likely to be found in groups because of their formation mechanism. Observation Geometry Acquisition date: 1 January 2007 Local Mars time: 3:34 PM Degrees latitude (centered): 31.1 ° Degrees longitude (East): 89.7 ° Range to target site: 291.1 km (181.9 miles) Original image scale range: 29.1 cm/pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects ~87 cm across are resolved Map-projected scale: 25 cm/pixel and north is up Map-projection: EQUIRECTANGULAR Emission angle: 0.2 ° Phase angle: 57.1 ° Solar incidence angle: 57 °, with the Sun about 33 ° above the horizon Solar longitude: 170.2 °, Northern Summer NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo.
Deep Impact on Its Way
PIA07266
Sol (our sun)
Hale Telescope 200-inch
Title Deep Impact on Its Way
Original Caption Released with Image This Jan. 13 photograph was taken by Mt Palomar's 200-inch telescope as the Deep Impact spacecraft was at a distance of about 260,000 kilometers (163,000 miles) from Earth and moving at a speed of about 16,000 kilometers per hour (10,000 miles per hour). The high speed of the spacecraft causes it to appear as a long streak across the sky in the constellation Virgo during the 10-minute exposure time of the image. The spacecraft will travel to comet Tempel 1 and release an impactor, creating a crater on the surface of the comet. Scientists believe the exposed materials may give clues to the formation of our solar system.
Tempel 1 First Op-Nav
PIA07880
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Target Sensor Camer …
Title Tempel 1 First Op-Nav
Original Caption Released with Image Tempel 1 First Optical Navigation On Monday, April 25, the Deep Impact spacecraft obtained its first optical navigation (Op-Nav) image of comet Tempel 1. At the time the picture was taken the distance between spacecraft and comet was 64 million kilometers (39.7 million miles) away. The exposure -- known as a "negative image" -- is used by the spacecraft team to assist in navigation and instrument calibration. The spacecraft will start imaging the comet on a regular basis in about 10 days.
Tempel 1 First Op-Nav
PIA07880
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Target Sensor Camer …
Title Tempel 1 First Op-Nav
Original Caption Released with Image Tempel 1 First Optical Navigation On Monday, April 25, the Deep Impact spacecraft obtained its first optical navigation (Op-Nav) image of comet Tempel 1. At the time the picture was taken the distance between spacecraft and comet was 64 million kilometers (39.7 million miles) away. The exposure -- known as a "negative image" -- is used by the spacecraft team to assist in navigation and instrument calibration. The spacecraft will start imaging the comet on a regular basis in about 10 days.
Triple Impact
PIA04115
Sol (our sun)
Mars Orbiter Camera
Title Triple Impact
Original Caption Released with Image 24 July 2005 This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows a 1.5 meters per pixel (~5 ft/pixel) view of three aligned meteor impact craters on the floor of a much larger crater in the Noachis Terra region. The craters may have formed together from a single event in which the impactor (the meteor) was broken into three pieces. "Location near": 33.9°S, 10.5°W "Image width": width: ~3 km (~1.9 mi) "Illumination from": upper left "Season": Southern Spring
Impactor No More (Animation)
PIA02130
Sol (our sun)
Medium Resolution Imager (MR …
Title Impactor No More (Animation)
Original Caption Released with Image "" Quick Time Movie for PIA02130 Realtime Ejecta (Animation) This movie was taken by Deep Impact's flyby spacecraft shows the flash that occurred when comet Tempel 1 ran over the spacecraft's probe. It was taken by the flyby craft's medium-resolution camera.
One-Way Trip to Tempel
PIA02135
Sol (our sun)
Impactor Targeting Sensor
Title One-Way Trip to Tempel
Original Caption Released with Image "" Quick Time Movie for PIA02135 Impactor Targeting Sensor Approach This movie shows Deep Impact's impactor probe approaching comet Tempel 1. It is made up of images taken by the probe's impactor targeting sensor. The probe collided with the comet at 10:52 p.m. Pacific time, July 3 (1:52 a.m. Eastern time, July 4).
Crater Variety
PIA02298
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys …
Title Crater Variety
Original Caption Released with Image Context image for PIA02298 Crater Variety This image contains several different impact craters. The elongate depression near the top of the image is formed when more than one impactor hits at the same time (a double whammy). The large crater at the bottom formed in a single impact, but was subsequently filled with material that is now being removed. Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 13.5N, Longitude 167.2E. 36 meter/pixel resolution. Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note [ http://themis.la.asu.edu/terms ] for details on crediting THEMIS images. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Crater Variety
PIA02298
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys …
Title Crater Variety
Original Caption Released with Image Context image for PIA02298 Crater Variety This image contains several different impact craters. The elongate depression near the top of the image is formed when more than one impactor hits at the same time (a double whammy). The large crater at the bottom formed in a single impact, but was subsequently filled with material that is now being removed. Image information: VIS instrument. Latitude 13.5N, Longitude 167.2E. 36 meter/pixel resolution. Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note [ http://themis.la.asu.edu/terms ] for details on crediting THEMIS images. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - …
Description KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - The sun rises behind Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., where the Boeing Delta II rocket carrying the Deep Impact spacecraft waits for launch. Gray clouds above the horizon belie the favorable weather forecast for the afternoon launch. Scheduled for liftoff at 1:47 p.m. EST today, Deep Impact will head for space and a rendezvous with Comet Tempel 1 when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile (impactor) to crash onto the surface July 4, 2005, Deep Impact?s flyby spacecraft will reveal the secrets of the comet?s interior by collecting pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the crater?s depth and diameter as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery mission.
Release Date 01/12/2005
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