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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Laboratory Drop Towers for the Experimental Simulation of Dust-aggregate Collisions in the Early Solar System
Published on: June 5, 2014
The dust grains from 9P/Tempel 1 before and after the encounter with Deep Impact
David E Harker1, Charles E Woodward, Diane H Wooden
1Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, Department 0424, La Jolla, CA 92093-0424, USA. dharker@ucsd.edu
Abstract:
Gemini-N observed the properties of dust ejected from the nucleus of comet 9P/Tempel 1 before and after its encounter with Deep Impact. Marked changes were seen in the 7.8- to 13-micrometer spectral energy distribution and derived grain properties of the inner coma. A strong, broad silicate feature dominated by emission from amorphous pyroxene, amorphous olivine, and magnesium-rich crystalline olivine had developed by 1 hour after impact. The ejected dust mass is congruent with 10(4) to 10(6) kilograms on the basis of our models. Twenty-six hours later the silicate feature had faded, leaving a smooth featureless spectrum, similar to that observed before the impact, suggesting that the impact did not produce a new active region releasing small particles on the nucleus.
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