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,
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