Pictures found on Internet: impact on Jupiter

In July 1994 the remains of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with the giant planet Jupiter, resulting in spactacular effects. Here I show 3 of the mant pictures I collected, coming mainly from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Baltimore (USA).

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This is an image obtained with the 2.3-meter telescope of the University of Arizona Observatories on Kitt Peak in Arizona by Wieslaw Wisniewski on 1993 March 28 at a mid-time of 06:45:32 UT. The total integration time was 300 seconds. North is to the right and East is at the top. The field of view is 1.3 arcminutes square. This is a close-up of the nuclear train showing at least 12 individual nuclei embedded within. Notice that the southern boundary of the nuclear train is very sharp compared to the northern boundary.

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Ultraviolet image of Jupiter taken by the Wide Field Camera of the Hubble Space Telescope. The image shows Jupiter's atmosphere at a wavelength of 2550 Angstroms after many impacts by fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. The most recent impactor is fragment R which is below the center of Jupiter (third dark spot from the right). This photo was taken 3:55 EDT on July 21, about 2.5 hours after R's impact. A large dark patch from the impact of fragment H is visible rising on the morning (left) side. Proceding to the right, other dark spots were caused by impacts of fragments Q1, R, D and G (now one large spot), and L, with L covering the largest area of any seen thus far. Small dark spots from B, N, and Q2 are visible with careful inspection of the image. The spots are very dark in the ultraviolet because a large quantity of dust is being deposited high in Jupiter's stratosphere, and the dust abosrbs sunlight. Scientists will be able to track winds in the stratosphere by watching the evolution of these
Credit: Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team

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This image of Jupiter was obtained with a filter at 336 nm (near-ultraviolet light) at 18:42 UT on 17 July 1994. Three impact sites (from left to right: C, A, and E) are visible as dark spots across the lower portion of the image. All other features in this picture are characteristic of Jupiter's normal state. The feature created by the impact of A is 23 hours old in this image. The C and E features are 12 and 5 hours old, respectively. Io is seen as a dark spot in the northern hemisphere (on the left) and the red spot is visible on the right limb.
Credit: The Hubble Space Telescope Jupiter Imaging Team

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created: 31 July 1995
last modified: 8 March 2000