Comet Shoemaker-Levy Collision with Jupiter

Twenty years ago, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) impacted Jupiter. I created this website in June 1994 on a voluntary basis, and it was my first public website. I was immensely interested in this unique comet since its discovery in 1993 - a comet that was not only captured into Jupiter orbit, but had broken up into several pieces which were about to hit Jupiter in July 1994. There were a lot of speculation about how the impacts would appear on Jupiter, and this website documents each impact as they occurred. Also note: back in 1994, websites were relatively unknown and somewhat of a novelty. This website became the first big Web event, and was key in raising the awareness of websites to the mainstream public, which we now take for granted today.

Here's a good summary of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 events published the "JPL Universe" on January 13, 1995.

JPL Universe article

This website will remain up as an archive and I hope you enjoy the images.

Ron Baalke

From July 16 through July 22, 1994, pieces of an object designated as Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter. This is the first collision of two solar system bodies ever to be observed, and the effects of the comet impacts on Jupiter's atmosphere have been simply spectacular and beyond expectations. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 consisted of at least 21 discernable fragments with diameters estimated at up to 2 kilometers.

News (Last Updated March 14, 2000)

• NASA Renames NEAR Spacecraft For Planetary Science Pioneer Gene Shoemaker (NASA - March 14, 2000)
• New CDROMs With Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Data Available (Goddard Space Flight Center - July 29, 1999)
• Moon Burial For Eugene Shoemaker (BBC News - July 28, 1999)
• Eugene Shoemaker Ashes Carried on Lunar Prospector (University of Arizona - January 7, 1998)
• Eugene Shoemaker (1928-1997) (Brian Marsden - July 18, 1997)
• Chain of Impact Craters Suggested by Spaceborne Radar Images (NASA - March 20, 1996).
• Comet SL9 Home Page Tops 7 Million Accesses (March 1, 1996).
• Hubble Observes Comet SL9 Effects on Jupiter (February 22-23, 1996).
• Pic du Midi Images of Jupiter (February 3, 1996).
• New Galileo Jupiter Animations Available (JPL - February 2, 1996).
• Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 Splits Again (Sky & Telescope - February 2, 1996).
• Galileo Probe Science Results (NASA - January 22, 1996).

Access Count to this Home Page: 7,618,325 . Click here for more details.

The Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Page (JPL) has been rated in the top 5 percent of all World Wide Web sites in an external review by Point Communications.

Background Information

Latest Conclusions of the Comet Collision

Images, Images, Images (1444 Images, 64 Observatories)

• Top 20 Comet SL9 Images
• Most Recent Comet SL9 Images
• Images Sorted By Observatory
• Images Sorted By Fragment Impact
• Miscellaneous Images

Animations

Comet Shoemaker-Levy Impact Times

• Impact Times for SL9 (Chodas & Yeomans - March 18, 1995).
• Impact Times for SL9 (Calar Alto - October 25, 1994).
• Post-Crash Impact Times for SL9 (Chodas & Yeomans - August 5, 1994).
• Lastest Table of Impact Times for the remaining comet fragments from Chodas, Yeomans (July 20, 1994).
• Predicted Impact Times of the Lost Fragments (July 11, 1994)
• Best Viewing Locations for the Impacts (June 25, 1994)
• Earth Facing Views of Each Impact.
• Likelihood of Fireball Visibility.

TV Coverage

• Discovery Channel
• NASA TV
• PBS
• CNN

Spacecraft Observations of the Impacts

• Galileo
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Voyager 2
• Ulysses
• International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE)
• Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE)
• Roentgensatellit (ROSAT)
• NASA Sounding Rocket

Ground Based Observations

• Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• Caltech
• Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory
• Comet Impact Network Experiment
• Deep Space Network
• European Southern Observatory
• Griffith Observatory
• Infrared Telescope Facility
• IUE Observatory.
• Keck Telescope
• Kitt Peak National Observatory
• Kuiper Airborne Observatory
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Lick and Leuschner Observatories
• Lowell Observatory
• McDonald Observatory
• Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Obvservatories
• Mt. Wilson Observatory
• National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Very Large Array (VLA)
• National Solar Observatory
• Owens Valley Radio Observatory
• Project BAMBI Amateur Radio Telescope
• South Africa Astronomical Observatory
• Space Telescope Science Institude (STScI)
• University of Hawaii
• University of Oregon
• University of Rochester
• Whately Observatory

Links to Other Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Pages

• Comet/Jupiter Collision Frequently Asked Questions Home Page (Texas A&M).
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Bulletin Board (University of Maryland).
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Collision with Jupiter Home Page (GSFC).
• EUVE/Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Page (University of California, Berkeley).
• Computer Simulations of the Jupiter-Comet Collision (MIT).
• Shoemaker-Levy9/Jupiter Collision (European Southern Observatory).
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy Home Page (Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center).

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