Rings of Jupiter to have been excited in 1995, around the time of the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter, while the smaller set appears to date to the first half of 1990. "Galileo"'s November 1996 observations are consistent with wavelengths of and , and vertical amplitudes of and , for the larger and smaller sets of waves, respectively. The formation of the larger set of waves can be explained if the ring was impacted by a cloud of particles released by the comet with a total mass on the order of 2–5 × 10 kg, which would have tilted the ring
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