Dramactic post-impact X-ray brightening of Comet Tempel 1
ATel #559; Paul O'Brien, Dick Willingale, Stan Cowley (University of Leicester), John Nousek (Penn State University) on behalf of the Swift XRT team
on 8 Jul 2005; 15:58 UT
Credential Certification: Paul O'Brien (pto@star.le.ac.uk)
Referred to by ATel #: 565
The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst satellite has been monitoring the X-ray emission from Comet Tempel 1
for several weeks using it's X-ray Telescope. The X-ray emission from the Comet was constant
within the uncertainties until about 2.9 days after impact. In the following 24 hours the X-ray
emission increased by a factor of approximately 7 and has remained bright
as of midday (UT) on 2005 July 8.
If the cometopause is at a distance of 10000 km from the nucleus, the delay in X-ray brightening
implies an average speed for the ejecta of 40 m/s.
Further observations are on-going.
