Heidi Hammel improvements to the adaptive optics systems of the Keck telescope, astronomers became able to capture "unbelievably crisp images" and view many details that could not be seen before. Hammel's planetary research with Hubble and Keck has demonstrated that both Uranus and Neptune are dynamic worlds. Hammel primarily studies the outer planets and their satellites, focusing on observational techniques. She was a member of the Imaging Science Team for the Voyager 2 encounter with the planet Neptune in 1989. In 1994, Hammel led the team that investigated Jupiter's visible wavelength response to the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 using the Hubble
Thomas Bopp Planetarium at the university. In 1997, as comet Hale–Bopp reached its brightest point, Bopp's brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident after photographing the comet. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," Bopp told a "National Geographic" reporter. Bopp and his father Frank have had an asteroid named after them, , discovered October 5, 1991, by Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker. In 1997 Gene Shoemaker and his wife, both famous for co-discovering comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, were involved in a fatal car crash while observing Hale-Bopp. Gene died in the crash and his ashes were