Amazing Space- Fast Facts: Comet 9P/Tempel 1

Description	Comet 9P/Tempel 1 was discovered in 1867 by Ernest Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel. The comet is called Tempel 1 because it was the first comet discovered by Tempel. It was also the ninth comet ever to be identified as periodic, which gives it the 9P designation.
Age	About the same age as the Sun: 4.5 billion years
Location	Its elliptical orbit is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Avg. distance from the Sun	Roughly between 227.9 million kilometers (141.6 million miles) and 778.3 million kilometers (483.6 million miles) from the Sun. Gravitational interactions with the planet Jupiter have and will continue to alter the comet’s path. However, its orbit is expected to remain between Mars and Jupiter.
Diameter	The nucleus is more potato-shaped than spherical. Tempel 1’s size is estimated to be 14 kilometers by 4 kilometers by 4 kilometers (8.7 miles by 2.5 miles by 2.5 miles). This means its volume is roughly the same as that of a sphere, 6.8 kilometers (4.2 miles) across.
Mass	Between 0.1 and 2.5 x 10¹⁴ kilograms
Orbital period around the Sun	5.5 Earth years
Distinguishing fact	On July 4, 2005, a man-made probe was intentionally crashed into the comet, in an attempt to release the primordial material trapped below Tempel 1’s crust.