Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragment D and G Impact Scars on Jupiter

Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragment D and G Impact Scars on Jupiter
Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragment D and G Impact Scars on Jupiter Fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter over a period of several days in July 1994. Fragments D and G struck Jupiter on 17 July at 11:45 and 18 July at 07:28 UTC, respectively. The relatively fresh fragment G impact has produced a concentric set of scars: an inner dark circle, an outer thin ring, and an outermost diffuse ring. Fragment D is responsible for the small dark circle above these. The 3 photos used to make this color composite were taken at 09:19, 09:22, and 09:25, nearly 2 hours after the impact. Data: H. Hammel, MIT, and NASA. Processing: Judy Schmidt.