March 17, 2016 collision with Jupiter the same event, verifying the clip that Kernbauer had posted. Manager of the NASA NEO Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Paul Chodas said that there was a greater possibility of the object being an asteroid rather than a comet. A similar situation occurred with Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994, when the comet broke apart and collided with Jupiter. March 17, 2016 collision with Jupiter An astronomical body collided with Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, on March 17, 2016. The object in question has not been confirmed by NASA to be an asteroid or comet,
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 thus a serendipitous discovery, but one that quickly overshadowed the results from their main observing program. Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was the ninth periodic comet (a comet whose orbital period is 200 years or less) discovered by the Shoemakers and Levy, hence its name. It was their eleventh comet discovery overall including their discovery of two non-periodic comets, which use a different nomenclature. The discovery was announced in IAU Circular 5725 on March 27, 1993. The discovery image gave the first hint that comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was an unusual comet, as it appeared to show multiple nuclei in an elongated region