Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 A of the nucleus entered Jupiter's southern hemisphere at a speed of about . Instruments on "Galileo" detected a fireball that reached a peak temperature of about , compared to the typical Jovian cloudtop temperature of about , before expanding and cooling rapidly to about after 40 seconds. The plume from the fireball quickly reached a height of over . A few minutes after the impact fireball was detected, "Galileo" measured renewed heating, probably due to ejected material falling back onto the planet. Earth-based observers detected the fireball rising over the limb of the planet shortly after the initial impact.
Herschel Space Observatory had been delivered as a result of the collision of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 in 1994. On 22 January 2014, ESA scientists reported the detection, for the first definitive time, of water vapor on the dwarf planet, Ceres, largest object in the asteroid belt. The detection was made by using the far-infrared abilities of the "Herschel Space Observatory". The finding is unexpected because comets, not asteroids, are typically considered to "sprout jets and plumes". According to one of the scientists, "The lines are becoming more and more blurred between comets and asteroids." On 29 April 2013, ESA announced that "Herschel" supply