"Bruised" Jupiter as Seen on Last Day of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impacts

 "Bruised" Jupiter as Seen on Last Day of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impacts

[right]
A natural color NASA Hubble Space Telescope view of the full disk of the giant planet Jupiter shows numerous comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact sites as seen on July 22, 1994. The A impact site is on the lower left limb. From left to right the features are: the A site; the E-F complex near the white oval southwest of the Red Spot; the dispersing H site to the southeast of the Red Spot; and the site of Q, near the eastern edge. Comet fragment A impacted on July 16, E and F on July 17, H on July 18 and Q on July 20. The image was taken with the Wide Field & Planetary Camera-2 (WFPC2) in wide- field mode.

[left]
A close-up view of the dissipating A site taken in the higher resolution planetary camera mode of the WFPC2. This image was obtained one orbit later (about 47 minutes), when the planet had rotated about 50 degrees.

The Hubble detail in both images shows how the impact sites are evolving with time.

Credits

Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Space Telescope Comet Team

About The Object
Object Name Jupiter, Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9
About The Object
Object Name A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Object Description The type of astronomical object.
R.A. Position Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
Dec. Position Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
Constellation One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
Distance The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
Dimensions The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
About The Data
Data Description
  • Proposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
  • Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
Instrument The science instrument used to produce the data.
Exposure Dates The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
Filters The camera filters that were used in the science observations.
About The Image
Image Credit The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content.
Publication Date The date and time the release content became public.
Color Info A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented.
Orientation The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere.