Caption: This EPOXI mission image of comet 103P/Hartley 2 was taken 52 days from Encounter (E-52d) using the Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI) and a clear filter. Science Team member Dr. Dennis Wellnitz combined seven successive one-minute exposures to make this single image. The mid-exposure time was 2010/09/13 13:34:10 UTC. Based on some very preliminary photometry, the comet is roughly 50% brighter than in the image taken last week.
The comet was 1.22 AU from the Sun and 0.35 AU (52.4 million km) from the spacecraft. The Sun is straight "down" from the comet and celestial north is to the lower right.
Image Parameter | Details |
Spacecraft: | Deep Impact Flyby |
Instrument: | Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI) |
Mid-exposure Date/Time (UTC): | 2010/09/13 13:34:10 |
Filter: | Clear |
Exposure: | 7 x 60 sec |
Pointing: | RA 21h 14' 35" Dec +36° 00' 26" |
Field of View: | approximately 268,000 km at the comet |
Solar Elongation: | 125° |
Solar Phase Angle: | 41° |
Sun-Comet distance (r): | 1.2225 AU (183 million km) |
DIF-Comet distance: | 0.3503 AU (52 million km) |
Table 1: Data about image.
Click for full size image. This is the same image as above, but without the pointers. |
Click for full size image. Negative of the same image which makes it a little easier to see the faint coma around the comet. |
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UMD