July 2005

First XMM-Newton images of impact

Images of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 taken by the Optical Monitor on ESA's XMM-Newton observatory, from two minutes before impact and until seven minutes after impact.

The first two images were taken just before impact. In the next images we can see the comet brightness due to impact.

The images are taken with Optical Monitor blue filter, with which we can measure the outcoming gas and dust. More images from the Optical Monitor are expected in the next hours.

Measurements in other XMM-Newton isntruments wavelenghts that should provide information about the chemical composition of the outcoming material.

For more information:

Rita Schulz, Principal Investigator for XMM-Newton Tempel 1 observations, ESA-ESTEC (The Netherlands) E-mail: rita.schulz @ esa.int

Norbert Schartel, ESA XMM-Newton Project Scientist, ESAC (Spain)
E-mail: [email protected]

Image credit: ESA/MSSL/Optical Monitor team. Image by Pedro Rodriguez, ESAC (Spain)