Hubble Space Telescope Views of Comet Fragment G Impact Zone

This image shows two views of the impact zone on Jupiter of fragment G of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9.  The image on the left was made in green light with the
Planetary Camera channel of the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).  The
image on the right is the same field taken through the WFPC2 methane filter.
Data for the images were obtained in the early morning hours of July 18, 1994.


The impact site is visible as a complex pattern of circles seen in the lower
left of the partial planet image.  The small dark feature to the left of the
pattern of circles is the impact site of fragment D.  The dark, sharp ring at
the site of the fragment G impact is 80% of the size of the Earth.  

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke up into 21 fragments during a close passage by
Jupiter in July of 1992.   Fragment G was one of the brightest and likely the
largest of the 21 fragments.  The remaining fragments will continue to impact
Jupiter through July 22, 1994.  Scientists estimate that the combined energy
from all of the impacts will approach the equivalent of 40 million megatons of
TNT.  

Jupiter was approximately 477 million miles (767 million kilometers) from Earth
when the image was taken.  

Credit: Dr. Heidi Hammel, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NASA HST.


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