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- These are images of the fireball associated with the R fragment of
- Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, obtained with the MIRAC Mid Infrared Array
- Camera at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea. The three
- images are 2-second exposures at 7.85, 10.3, and 12.2 microns,
- characteristic of methane, ammonia and hydrogen in Jupiter's
- atmosphere, respectively. They were obtained about 15 minutes after the
- predicted impact time during the rise in brightness of the explosion
- fireball. At maximum, the fireball surface brightness was about 50
- times that of Jupiter. The images are displayed with logrithmic scaling
- in order to display the full range of brightness. The multiple thermal
- wavelengths will help determine the temperature evolution of the plume
- and distinguish between gasous and particulate emission.
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