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This sequence of nine images was obtained with the TIMMI instrument at the ESO 3.6-metre telescope on July 18, 1994, between 19:29 and 20:15 UT. They show the spectacular development of the rising plume above the impact site of fragment H of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. The images were made in the 9.1 - 10.4 micron band in the far-infrared region.
The surface brightness of this plume at its peak was about 50 times that of the Jupiter disk. The temperature was measured as more than 300 K. The other bright feature on the disk is the plume from the G-impact which took place 12 hours earlier, corresponding to approx. 1 1/4 rotations.
The observers were Tim Livengood (NASA), Ulli Kaeufl (ESO), Benoit Mosser and Marc Sauvage (Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France).
This is ESO PR Photo SL9J/94-14. It may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory.
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