Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 by the comet fragments punching through the upper atmosphere. Spectroscopic studies revealed absorption lines in the Jovian spectrum due to diatomic sulfur (S) and carbon disulfide (CS), the first detection of either in Jupiter, and only the second detection of S in any astronomical object. Other molecules detected included ammonia (NH) and hydrogen sulfide (HS). The amount of sulfur implied by the quantities of these compounds was much greater than the amount that would be expected in a small cometary nucleus, showing that material from within Jupiter was being revealed. Oxygen-bearing molecules such as sulfur dioxide were not detected, to
Great January Comet of 1910 twilight, its noticeably curved tail reaching up to 50 degrees by early February. The year 1910 saw considerable media interest in the predicted return of Halley's Comet, which reached perihelion on April 20. The appearance of the Daylight Comet several months earlier therefore came as something of a surprise, and made an extremely strong impression on an expectant public; when Halley's Comet returned again in 1986, many older people's accounts of having seen it in 1910 clearly referred to the Daylight Comet instead. Owing to a "telephonic error", the comet was initially reported as being named Drake's Comet, though once