EPOXI

Two intriguing investigations -- One flight-proven spacecraft

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Deep Sky Feasibility Demonstration With the successful completion of the Deep Impact and EPOXI missions, the Deep Impact Flyby spacecraft has proven that it can get great data on comets. What else could it do? EPOXI Spacecraft Team Chief Steve Wissler needed to give his team some real life practice by imaging some targets that are definitely not comets!
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SPECIAL FEATURES

Science & Children: The EPOXI EPO team had an article "Inquiry into the Heart of a Comet" published in the NSTA's Feb 2011 Science & Children magazine.

Eyes on the Solar System

A team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is using computer gaming technology to immerse the general public and mission personnel in our solar system and beyond. "Eyes on the Solar System," is a cross-platform, realtime, 3D-interactive application that runs inside a Web browser.

Visit this page (at JPL)

GENERAL FEATURES

Mission Status

Updates about how the mission is going. Latest report: 2011-Nov-01

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EPOXI Team

Visit with the many scientists, engineers, students, outreach specialists and others who are making the EPOXI projects a success!

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NEWS FEATURES

2010.11.18 - NASA Spacecraft Sees Cosmic Snow Storm During Comet Encounter

The EPOXI mission's recent encounter with comet Hartley 2 provided the first images clear enough for scientists to link jets of dust and gas with specific surface features. NASA and other scientists have begun to analyze the images.

2010.11.15 - NASA Announces Comet Encounter News Conference

NASA will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 18, to discuss new scientific findings from the recent EPOXI mission spacecraft encounter with comet Hartley 2.

2010.11.10 - Primordial Dry Ice Fuels Comet Jets

One of the biggest comet findings coming out of the amazing images and data taken by the University of Maryland-led EPOXI mission as it zipped past comet Hartley 2 last week is that dry ice is the 'jet' fuel for this comet and perhaps many others.

2010.11.05 - Flight of the Comet

This video clip was compiled from images taken by NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft during its flyby of comet Hartley 2 on Nov. 4, 2010. During the encounter, the spacecraft and comet whisked past each other at a speed of 12.3 kilometers per second (27,560 miles per hour).

GALLERY

S Wissler processing of two frame Veil Nebula

process of diffuse sublimation on Tempel 1, 'neck' of Hartley 2

Views of Hartley 2 Nucleus and Inner Coma

Ice absorption spectrum and ice particle sizes

The Many Faces of Hartley 2: Location of the Jets

The Many Faces of Hartley 2: Where the H20 and CO2 are emanating

103P taken on 2010-10-27 showing CN coma

Distribution maps for carbon dioxide, water, and dust around 103P made using the HRI-IR

Spectrum of 103P taken by the HRI-IR on 4 November 2010

Close approach animation for 103P taken on 4 Nov 2010

HRI view of jets on 28 Oct - 03 Nov 2010

Fifth of 5 preselected images at Close Approach

Fourth of 5 preselected images at Close Approach

Third of 5 preselected images at Close Approach

Second of 5 preselected images at Close Approach

First of 5 preselected images at Close Approach

Evidence for a First-of-Its-Kind Comet Jet

Carbon Dioxide Fluctuations in Comet Hartley 2

HRI and MRI view of jets on 26-27 Oct 2010

Lightcurve corresponding to jets on 26-27 Oct

Approaching comet 103P/Hartley E-20d to E-12d

animation depicting artist's concept of close approach

from Deep Impact launch to 103P/Hartley encounter

FTN image of Hartley 2 taken by N. Howes and processed by T. Scarmato

23 June image of 103P/Hartley taken by C. Bell

Jeff Koterba's cartoon of water on the moon

one possible model for the formation of OH/H2O on the lunar surface, as discussed by Sunshine et al. 2009

cropped section of figure 2 from the lunar hydration paper

frame from Kuiper Prize Talk at DPS 2008

graphic of Earth-Moon geometry during lunar transit

RGB comp of deconvoluted frames of Earth and Moon

graphic of EPOXI orbit, rotating coordinates

graphics of planetary eclipse and light curve

HARTLEY 2 IMAGES

S/C Images

Images from the Deep Impact spacecraft.

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Professional

Images from professional ground- and space-based observatories.

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Amateurs

Images, sketches, etc from amateurs and private observatories.

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RELATED SITES

Deep Impact

Live pages at UM.

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PlanetQuest

Exoplanet Exploration.

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EPOXI

NASA Portal site.

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RELATED MULTIMEDIA

link to flash animation of Explore Comets interactive

Exploration of Comets

This interactive explores comets -- their anatomy, life cycle, and provides the specifications of some comets that have been and will be explored by NASA missions.

link to flash animation of Deep Impact results

Deep Impact Science Results

Deep Impact science team members have been analysing the results since 2005. This animation summarizes some of the major results.

Four Ways to Find a Planet

How do you find something if you can't see it? Here are some of the techniques used by scientists.

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