This abstract was extracted from the EUVE Newsletter, Vol 5 No. 8,
August 25, 1995
The Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) satellite conducted extensive
observations of the jovian system before, during, and after the impact of
the fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994. About 2 to 4 hours
after the impacts of several of the larger fragments, the brightness of
the neutral helium (He I) resonance line at 58.4 nanometers temporarily
increased by a factor of about 10. The transient 58.4-nanometer
brightenings are most simply explained by resonant scattering of sunlight
from the widespread high-altitude remnants of the larger impact plumes.
Other possible sources of emission, such as electron impact excitation
of He or radiative recombination of He+, may contribute to the observed
signal.