Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9, formally designated D/1993 F2) was a comet which collided with Jupiter in 1994, providing the first direct observation of the collision of two solar system objects. This generated a large amount of coverage in the popular media, and SL9 was closely observed by astronomers worldwide. The comet provided many revelations about Jupiter and its atmosphere and highlighted Jupit ...

Including:

• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts
• Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

The visible scars from the impacts could be seen on Jupiter for many months after the impact. They were extremely prominent, and observers described them as more easily visible even than the Great Red Spot. A search of historical observations revealed that the spots were probably the most prominent transient features ever seen on the planet, and that while the Great Red Spot is notable for its striking colour, no spots of the size and darkness of those caused by the SL ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects

Anticipation was high as the predicted date for the collisions approached, and astronomers trained their telescopes on Jupiter. Several space observatories did the same, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the ROSAT X-ray observing satellite, and significantly the Galileo spacecraft, then on its way to a rendezvous with Jupiter scheduled for 1996. While the impacts would take place on the side of Jupiter hidden from Earth, Galileo, then at a distance of 1.6 AU from the planet, would be able to see the impacts as they occurred. Jupiter's rapid rotation would bring the impact sites into view for terrest ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts

Since the impact of SL9, two further very small comets have been found to be orbiting Jupiter. Studies have shown that the planet, by far the most massive in the solar system, can capture comets from solar orbit into Jovian orbit rather frequently. Cometary orbits around Jupiter are generally unstable, as they will be highly elliptical and likely to be strongly perturbed by the Sun's gravity at apojove (the furthest point on the orbit from the planet). Studies have estimated that comets probably crash into Jupiter once or twice per century, but the impact of comets the size of SL9 is much l ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts

The impact of SL9 highlighted Jupiter's role as a kind of "cosmic vacuum cleaner" for the inner solar system. Studies have shown that the planet's strong gravitational influence leads to many small comets and asteroids colliding with the planet, and the rate of cometary impacts on Jupiter is thought to be between two and ten times higher than the rate on Earth [14] If Jupiter were not present, these small bodies could collide with the inner planets instead. The extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies. As well as these molecules, emission from heavier atoms such as iron, magnesium and silicon was detected, with the abundances of these atoms being consistent with what would be found in a cometary nucleus. While substantial water was detected spectroscopically, it was not as much as predicted beforehand, meaning that either the water layer thought to exist below the clouds was thinner than predicted, or that the cometary fragments did not penetrate deeply enoug ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries

Orbital studies of the new comet soon revealed that, unlike all other comets discovered before then, it was orbiting Jupiter rather than the Sun. Its orbit around Jupiter was very loosely bound, with an apojove (furthest distance from Jupiter) of 0.33 Astronomical Units (AU). Tracing back the comet's orbital motion revealed that it had been orbiting Jupiter for some time. It was most likely captured from a solar orbit in the early 1970s, although the capture may have occurred much earlier. Before the comet was captured by Jupiter ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet

The discovery that the comet was likely to collide with Jupiter caused great excitement within the astronomical community and beyond, as astronomers had never before seen two significant solar system bodies collide. Intense studies of the comet were undertaken, and as its orbit became more accurately established, the possibility of a collision became a certainty. The collision would provide a unique opportunity for scientists to look inside Jupiter's atmosphere, as the collisions were expected to cause e ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) was discovered on the night of March 24, 1993 by the Shoemakers and Levy, who were conducting a program of observations designed to uncover near-Earth objects. The comet was thus a serendipitous discovery, but one that quickly overshadowed the results from their main observing program. The discovery was announced in IAU Circular 5725 on March 27, 1993. Subsequently, several other observers found the comet in images obtained before March 24, including K. Endate from a photograph exposed on March 15, S. Otomo on March 17, and a te ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery

One of the surprises of the impacts was the small amount of water revealed compared to prior predictions. Before the impact, models of Jupiter's atmosphere had indicated that the break-up of the largest fragments would occur at atmospheric pressures of anywhere from 300 kilopascals to a few megapascals (from three to a few hundred bar), and most astronomers expected that the impacts would p ...

See also:

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Discovery, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - A Jupiter-orbiting comet, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Predictions for the collision, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Observations and discoveries, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Chemical studies, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Seismic waves, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Other observations, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Longer term effects, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Frequency of impacts, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Jupiter as a cosmic vacuum cleaner

Read more here: » Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9: Encyclopedia II - Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Post-impact analysis