DS1 MICAS VISCCD Images of Comet 19P/Borrelly from September 2001

NASA's Deep Space 1 (DS1) spacecraft captured these images using its Miniature Integrated Camera Spectrometer (MICAS) during the September 2001 approach and encounter with comet 19P/Borrelly. The archive contains undocumented raw (EDR) images from the visible wavelength charged couple device (VISCCD) channel. The data provider notes the images are considered to be of highly questionable quality.

Use Cases

• Analyze cometary surface features and activity based on visible wavelength images.
• Study the performance and calibration of the MICAS VISCCD instrument on the Deep Space 1 mission.
• Conduct historical analysis of early 21st-century comet encounters using raw spacecraft data.

Strengths

• Data originates from a NASA spacecraft mission, Deep Space 1.
• Images are temporally focused on a specific astronomical event: the September 2001 comet encounter.

Limitations

• The data provider explicitly states the images are of 'highly questionable quality'.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Acquired by the MICAS instrument on the Deep Space 1 spacecraft.

Time Range

September 2001

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:10:05.008415; freshness should be verified

Geography

Space; comet 19P/Borrelly encounter.