A highly stretched pair of images showing the precursor of the first impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. This presentation focuses on the southeast limb of the planet. The south polar cap (bottom right) and the Great Red Spot (upper center) appear bright at the wavelength of the observations, 2.3 um, which was selected to maximize contrast between the impact structures and the jovian atmosphere.
The left frame was taken at 20:11:10 UT on the 16th of July, and the right hand frame at 20:11:30. The A impact precursor appears on the limb of Jupiter in the right hand frame, just above the edge of the south polar cap.
Image taken with the MAGIC infrared camera on the 3.5 meter telescope on Calar Alto.
Picture Credits:
Tom Herbst, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Heidelberg, Doug Hamilton, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Hermann Boehnhardt, Universitaets-Sternewarte, Muenchen, and Jose Luis Ortiz Moreno, Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada.
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