ruined. They continued developing them, hoping that those closer to the bottom of the stack had been sufficiently protected. And it was here, on a partially exposed plate, that the historic comet was detected. Even in this first image, the comet appeared unusually extended.
Had all the photographic plates been ruined, Shoemaker-Levy 9 might have gone undetected. Its collision with Jupiter would possibly have been discovered after the fact, as amateur observers around the globe saw black splotches appearing night after night on the planet. Fortunately, the advance warning allowed astronomers to coordinate their observations throughout the world.
