Chandra Release - July 6, 2005

Visual Description: Comet Tempel 1

The image is an X-ray image of Comet Tempel 1, which is a celestial body in our solar system. The comet has a yellow-green hue on a mottled green, purple and blue background, with a bright circular source in the center.  This image shows comet Tempel 1 as seen by the Chandra X-ray Observatory on June 30, 2005. The comet was bright and condensed. The Chandra data indicate that the X-rays observed from Tempel 1 are primarily due to the interaction between highly charged oxygen ions in the solar wind and neutral gases from the comet. A label near the top shows the direction of the Sun, pointing towards 1 o’clock as well as two labels listing the name of the comet and the Chandra observatory along the bottom.