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Jupiter

Comet Shoemaker-levy 9 Collision

In early 1993, Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy discovered a comet moving across the night sky. They were surprised at its appearance, since it seemed elongated compared to other comets they had seen. Further observations showed that the comet consisted of a large number of fragments, apparently torn apart during a close encounter with Jupiter during a previous orbit. Calculations showed that this "string of pearls" would collide with Jupiter in July, 1994.

A worldwide effort was mounted to observe the impacts with nearly all ground-based and space-based telescopes available. Although astronomers could not predict what effect the collisions would have on Jupiter, or even whether they would be visible, the results turned out to be spectacular. Observatories around the world, and satellite telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope observed the impacts and their effects. Galileo, en route to Jupiter at the time, provided astronomers with a front-row seat at proceedings. Even relatively small amateur telescopes were able to see some of the larger impact sites. Dark regions were visible in the atmosphere for months.

Resources

Books

Christiansen, E.H., and W.K. Hamblin. Exploring the Planets. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1995.

de Pater, Imke, and Jack J. Lissauer. Planetary Sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Morrison, D., and Tobias Owen. The Planetary System. 3rd ed. Addison-Wesley Publishing, 2002.

Taylor, F.W. The Cambridge Photographic Guide to the Planets. Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Periodicals

Beebe, Reta F. "Queen of the Giant Storms." Sky & Telescope (1990): 359-364.

O'Meara, Stephen James. "The Great Dark Spots of Jupiter." Sky & Telescope (1994): 30–35.

Other

Arnett, B. SEDS, University of Arizona. "The Nine Planets, a Multimedia Tour of the Solar System." November 6, 2002 [cited February 8, 2003]. <http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/nineplanets.html>.

David Sahnow David T. King, Jr.

KEY TERMS

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Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: —A comet which crashed into Jupiter in 1994.
Copernican system: —The description of the solar system which has the planets orbiting the Sun, proposed by Nicholas Copenicus.
Galilean satellites: —The four largest satellites of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo in 1610.
Gas giant: —One of the large outer planets, including Jupiter, composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Great Red Spot: —A large, storm in Jupiter's atmosphere, which has been visible for more than 150 years.
Io plasma torus: —A region of charged particles which are trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field.
Planetesimal: —Small bodies from which planets formed.
Voyager: —Two unmanned planetary probes which flew by Jupiter and its satellites in 1979.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Intuitionist logic to KabbalahJupiter - The Jovian System, Observations From Earth And Space, In Situ Measurements, Atmosphere, Io - The planet, The Jovian system