This data set description was provided by Buie and McLaughlin.
 
 
Data Set Overview
=================
 
  This data set contains broadband R images and derived photometry
  of comet 9P/Tempel 1, the target of the Deep Impact mission.
  Data were acquired by Buie at the Perkins 72-inch telescope of
  the Lowell Observatory during 11 nights of observing from
  28 September 2000 through 14 January 2001, about 8.5 to 12.5
  months after the comet passed through perihelion on 2 January 2000.
 
  The observations were made using three different, visible CCD
  cameras mounted at the telescope:
 
    Observing Dates   Detector Used       Plate Scale
    ---------------   -----------------   ----------------------------
    2000 Sep-Oct      Loral 2K x 2K*      0.726 arcsecond/binned pixel
    2000 Nov-Dec      SITe 2K x 2K        1.134 arcsecond/binned pixel
    2001 Jan          Navy TI 800 x 800   0.800 arcsecond/binned pixel
 
      * Buie noted the Loral CCD unbonded from its mount
        sometime in late October 2000 but was repaired.
 
  This data set also includes dark frames and broadband BVR sky flats and
  Landolt standard star fields used to calibrate the raw comet images.
  Photometric and lightcurve results were presented by
  Meech, et al. (2000) [MEECHETAL2000].
 
 
Parameters
==========
 
  Observational parameters for each image are incorporated into
  the PDS labels and FITS headers supplied with the data.
 
 
Processing
==========
 
  Buie developed and, with Pate, used IDL routines to de-bias, flatten,
  and calibrate the raw images.  Several Landolt star fields
  (Landolt, 1992 [LANDOLT1992]) were used to calibrate the comet
  images.  Daily finder charts and lists that identify the calibration
  are included as documentation for this data set.
 
  Buie noted a special bias correction step was applied to data
  taken from September through October 2000 with the Loral CCD.
  The CCD, prior to coming unbound from its mount in late October,
  experienced a variable bias.  Buie developed a method to remove or
  at least minimize its effect on these data:
 
     By plotting bias level versus time through the night, we
     could see that the bias level would jump by a discrete and
     nearly constant level for 10's of images. By averaging these
     apparent sets we determined a group correction so that the
     entire night's data kept a reasonable bias level.
 
  The bias correction table that was used during the reduction process
  is included in the calibration directory.  Images taken with the SITe and
  NAVY CCDs did not require this special bias correction because both
  CCDs had a stable.  A standard bias subtraction was applied to these
  data.
 
  For each night, Buie performed differential photometry of the
  calibrated R images and produced lightcurves in the highest
  signal-to-noise ratio aperture.  Daily lightcurve data are provided
  as photometry data tables.  Output from multiple-size aperture and
  single aperture (best) photometry extractions are provided as data
  tables as well as documentation for this data set.
 
 
Data
====
 
  Images
  =======
 
    Raw and reduced images are supplied as FITS files with headers
    produced by telescope software and IDL processing, with detached
    PDS labels generated by the Applied Coherent Technology Corporation
    and the Small Bodies Node.  In the FITS image array, North is down
    and East is to the right.  This orientation is specified by the
    LINE_DISPLAY_DIRECTION and SAMPLE_DISPLAY_DIRECTION keywords in
    the PDS labels.
 
    This data set contains 439 raw and reduced images of the comet,
    698 raw sky flats, darks, standard star fields, and
    268 reduced standard star fields.  On 2000-12-16, 17 images of
    Messier objects (M1, M31, M42, M78, M79, and IC 433) were taken
    but not reduced.  On night 2000-12-16, one test frame was taken
    and on 2000-10-17, one focus frame was taken.  These frames are
    given a target name of 'N/A' in the PDS labels.
 
    The following table provides the date and UT time range for comet
    images taken during the 11 observing nights.  Guiding was performed
    on the comet.  An estimate of the amount of trailing for stars, in
    arcseconds, was obtained from the image and provided in the following
    table.  The sky conditions in the following table were taken from the
    observing logs in the document directory.
 
                               #Comet Imgs Trail
        Obs Date     UT Time    by Filter  ('')  Sky Condition
       ----------  ----------- ----------- ----  --------------------------
       2000-09-28  07:11-09:41  20 R        6-9  Cummulus then clear
       2000-09-29  03:43-09:38  53 R, 2 V   6-9  Clearing, some thin clouds
       2000-09-30  04:27-09:36  54 R        6-9  Clearing
       2000-10-01  05:08-09:23  38 R        6-9  Clearing late
       2000-10-17  02:25-08:11  56 R        5-7  Smoke
       2000-10-18  02:27-08:02  40 R, 5 U*  5-7  Clear
         2000-11-19  01:41-06:06  40 R        2-3  Clear
       2000-11-20  01:34-06:06  48 R        2-3  Clear
       2000-12-16  01:10-04:35  39 R        4-5  Cirrus
       2000-12-18  01:11-04:11  29 R, 1 V   4-5  Clearing
       2001-01-14  02:03-03:35  14 R        2-3  Some clouds low on horizon
 
          * Broadband U images were taken by accident.
 
    The following table provides the geometric circumstances of the
    comet for the 11 observing nights.  The values were generated
    by the JPL Horizons System.  The last column in the
 
                                            Phase
                    Heliocent.  Geocent.    Angle
         Obs Date   dist. [AU]  dist. [AU]  [deg.]
        ----------  ----------  ----------  ------
        2000-09-28     2.760       1.794      6.9
        2000-09-29     2.765       1.803      7.1
        2000-09-30     2.771       1.811      7.3
        2000-10-01     2.777       1.820      7.6
        2000-10-17     2.864       2.000     11.9
        2000-10-18     2.870       2.013     12.1
        2000-11-19     3.040       2.528     17.5
        2000-11-20     3.045       2.546     17.6
        2000-12-16     3.176       3.042     18.0
        2000-12-18     3.186       3.080     18.0
        2001-01-14     3.317       3.593     15.7
 
  Photometry
  ==========
 
    Buie provided three types of photometry extractions:
 
      - Differential photometry for each night for lightcurve analysis.
 
      - Single aperture extractions for each night at an aperture
        that gave the best possible signal-to-noise ratio. The aperture
        was matched to the seeing for that night, regardless of the scale
        of the image at the comet.
 
      - Multiple aperture size extractions for each night.  Each nightly
        set of apertures ranged from a minimum size determined by the
        maximum signal-to-noise ratio and less than 1% photometric error
        up to 10 arcseconds in 1 arcsecond increments above 5 arcseconds.
 
 
Media/Format
============
 
  The data are supplied as an electronic file in a PDS standard
  volume structure.

Confidence Level Overview
    =========================
 
      Standard techniques were used for the reduction of the image
      data and calculation of the photometry.
 
      Some data frames have ghost images caused by filter reflections.
 
      Lightcurve photometry is presented as differential R magnitudes
      with error bars.  However, it appears that the R magnitudes are
      apparent magnitudes and are not corrected to absolute magnitudes,
      that is R(1,1,0).
 
    Review
    ======
 
      This data set was reviewed during a PDS Peer review held in May 2004.