Shoemaker-Levy Comet Impact on Jupiter Briefing From JPL

Abstract

A panel discussion held on July 17, 1994, about the impact of the P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) comet with Jupiter and its observable effects on Jupiter's atmosphere, rings, satellites, and magnetosphere, is presented. The panelists were Dr. Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker (from Lowell Observatory and US Geological Survey), the Shoemaker-Levy comet co-discoverers; David Levy, also the co-discoverer of the Shoemaker-Levy comet; and Dr. Heidi Hammel (from Massachusetts Institute of Technology). On this second day of impact, the discussion was focused on the impact of the fragments A, B, C, and D. Dr. Hammel, who is also a Principal Investigator for the Hubble Imaging Team at MIT, presents preliminary results of the study of images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). A summary of the observations from different observatories was also given. Included in these observations were reports from the W.M. Keck Observatory, and Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea Observatory.