What was Shoemaker-Levy 9, that crashed into Jupiter in 1994?
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 (formally designated D/1993 F2) was a comet that broke apart in July 1992 and collided with Jupiter in July 1994, providing the first direct observation of an extraterrestrial collision of Solar System objects. This generated a large amount of coverage in the popular media, and the comet was closely observed by astronomers worldwide. The collision provided new information about Jupiter and highlighted its possible role in reducing space debris in the inner Solar System. The comet was discovered by astronomers Carolyn and Eugene M. Shoemaker and David Levy in 1993. Shoemaker–Levy 9 had been
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 brought the impact sites into view for terrestrial observers a few minutes after the collisions. Two other space probes made observations at the time of the impact: the "Ulysses" spacecraft, primarily designed for solar observations, was pointed towards Jupiter from its location away, and the distant "Voyager 2" probe, some from Jupiter and on its way out of the Solar System following its encounter with Neptune in 1989, was programmed to look for radio emission in the 1–390 kHz range and make observations with its ultraviolet spectrometer. The first impact occurred at 20:13 UTC on July 16, 1994, when fragment