PIA02101: Capturing the Coma
This picture of Tempel 1 was taken by NASA's Deep Impact. Even though the spacecraft was over 10 days away from the comet when these data were acquired, it detected some of the molecules making up the comet's gas and dust envelope, or coma.
 Target Name:  Tempel 1
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Deep Impact 
 Spacecraft:  Deep Impact
 Instrument:  Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI) 
 Product Size:  512 x 512 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  University of Maryland 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA02101.tif (262.6 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA02101.jpg (15.99 kB)  

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

This image shows comet Tempel 1, as seen by the Deep Impact spacecraft on June 21, 2005. It was taken using the clear filter of the spacecraft's medium resolution imager camera. The spacecraft was 11,564,081.7 kilometers (7,185,920 miles) away from the comet. Twelve images were combined together, and a logarithmic stretch was applied to enhance the coma of the comet.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD

Image Addition Date:
2005-06-24