Exploration of Jupiter the eight-year study included multiple flybys of all of the Galilean moons, as well as Amalthea (the first probe to do so). It also witnessed the impact of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 as it approached Jupiter in 1994 and the sending of an atmospheric probe into the Jovian atmosphere in December 1995. Cameras on the "Galileo" spacecraft observed fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 between 16 and 22 July 1994 as they collided with Jupiter's southern hemisphere at a speed of approximately 60 kilometres per second. This was the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of solar system objects. While the
Carolyn S. Shoemaker Carolyn S. Shoemaker Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker (born June 24, 1929) is an American astronomer and is a co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. She once held the record for most comets discovered by an individual. Carolyn Jean Spellmann was born in Gallup, New Mexico, United States. to Leonard and Hazel Arthur Spellmann. Her family moved to Chico, California, where she and her brother Richard grew up. Carolyn Spellmann earned bachelor's and master's degrees in history, political science, and English literature from Chico State University. Richard went to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where he earned a bachelor's degree in