At first there was nothing to see on Earth. It was only nine months later that Caroline, Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy discovered a series of unusual comets in one of the images.
It soon became clear that these objects orbited Jupiter. Orbital analysis shows that the comet fragment, named after its discoverer, will no longer cross the planet in July 1994, but will fall into it.
Experts have never been able to follow such a cosmic collapse. Comet fragments race through the planet’s gas plumes for six days. It was previously unclear whether the pieces, which were a thousand meters in size at most, could leave any visible traces at all.
You may. The chain collision exceeded all expectations: every hit caused an explosion. The “scar” can be seen in Jupiter’s atmosphere for weeks – even in amateur telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope, which was still new at the time, made its debut, and caught the world’s attention.
But for Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 that was the end. The comet was simply “unlucky” to have been caught by Jupiter and pushed into its deadly orbit for decades. In return, he provides astronomy fans with a unique spectacle.
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