30 Years Since Historic Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet Impacts of Jupiter | NASA

30 Years Since Historic Shoemaker-Levy 9 Comet Impacts of Jupiter | NASA

In July 1994, astronomers around the world watched with bated breath as fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into the planet Jupiter.

The impacts proved to be impressive. Fragments plunged into Jupiter’s atmosphere over the course of six days. Like the splash from throwing a rock into a pond, the impacts created giant plumes of material from Jupiter’s lower atmosphere which rose as high as 1,900 miles or 3,000 kilometers above the cloud tops into the stratosphere. In the aftermath, the plume splashback scarred Jupiter’s atmosphere with dark clouds of impact debris that could be seen for months as they were gradually dispersed by Jupiter's winds.

This historic event helped to give rise to the field of planetary defense.

Explore more about NASA’s mission of finding, tracking and better understanding asteroids and comets that could pose an impact hazard to Earth: https://www.nasa.gov/planetarydefense

Video Credit: NASA 360

Duration: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

Release Date: July 17, 2024

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