Where's north? Defining Tempel 1's poles
Filed under explaining science, comets, comet Tempel 1, mapping
Tempel 1 with the nucleus coordinate system superimposed. Because the flyby spacecraft flew under the nucleus, we can see the negative pole. The positive pole is just over the horizon at upper right. The positive pole is defined by the right hand rule (based on direction of spin). In this case it is also pointing into the north ecliptic hemisphere and can therefore also be called the north pole.
NASA / UMD / Cornell / Peter Thomas

This image is in the public domain. Original image data dated on or about September 25, 2006





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