What was Shoemaker-Levy 9?
Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) was a comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994. The impact was one of the most closely watched astronomical events of the century, and was the largest collision ever observed between two solar system objects. The high public visibility of the collision helped to popularize the idea that the Earth was vulnerable to impacts from space. Shoemaker-Levy was originally a short-period comet, with a nucleus roughly three miles (five kilometers) across. During the twentieth century, it was captured by Jupiter’s powerful gravitational field, entering into a long, loose orbit around Jupiter. Eight months before Shoemaker-Levy was discovered, in July 1992, the comet passed so close to Jupiter that it was ripped apart into a train of strung-out fragments. When the comet was discovered in March 1993 by the Shoemakers and David Levy, its odd appearance marked it as unusual, and astronomers quickly discovered that it was on a collision course with Jupiter. The fragments of Shoem
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