Ten years ago, Jupiter swallowed chunks of a comet in a dramatic reminder that our solar system is a shooting gallery of sorts.
From July 16 through July 22, 1994, more than 20 fragments of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy
9 collided with the giant planet. It was the first collision of two objects
in the solar system ever observed. This view of one impact was provided by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
The comet was discovered by Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker and David Levy in 1993 with the 0.4-meter Schmidt telescope at Mt. Palomar. It orbited Jupiter and was torn apart by gravitational forces.
Fragments up to 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) across hit Jupiter at 134,200 mph
(60 kilometers per second), sending plumes of hot gas into the Jovian atmosphere.
Dark scars on the gaseous atmosphere lasted for weeks. Such an impact with Earth
would have devastating global consequences.
Hubble captured the impact of fragment "D" on July 17, 1994. Material was ejected and fell back to create a dark ring. The overall atmospheric disturbance was about the size of Earth.
Our planet, too, has been rocked by comets and asteroids,
though such catastrophes are much less frequent in modern times compared to
the first couple of billion years of the solar system. Astronomers are nonetheless
eager to study how a space rock might be diverted
if one is ever found heading our way.
-- Robert
Roy Britt
Credit: NASA/ESA/HST/H. Hammel, MIT
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