Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 a collision was completely unprecedented, astronomers were cautious with their predictions of what the event might reveal. Anticipation grew as the predicted date for the collisions approached, and astronomers trained terrestrial 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 1995. Although the impacts took place on the side of Jupiter hidden from Earth, "Galileo", then at a distance of from the planet, was able to see the impacts as they occurred. Jupiter's rapid rotation
Comet Hale–Bopp and it was visible to the naked eye for twice as long as the previous record-holder. It was also brighter than magnitude 0 for eight weeks, longer than any other recorded comet. Gene Shoemaker and his wife Carolyn, both famous for co-discovering comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, were involved in a car crash after photographing the comet. Gene died in the crash and his ashes were sent to the Moon aboard NASA's "Lunar Prospector" mission along with an image of Hale–Bopp, "the last comet that the Shoemakers observed together". Comet Hale–Bopp Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a comet that was