At first there was nothing to be seen on earth. It was not until nine months later that Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy discovered the unusual comet chain in a photo.
It quickly became clear that these objects were orbiting Jupiter. Orbit analyzes showed that the fragments of the comet, named after the discoverers, would no longer pass the planet in July 1994, but would fall into it.
Never before had experts been able to follow such a cosmic crash. The comet’s fragments raced into the planet’s gas masses over a period of six days. It was previously unclear whether the chunks, which were at best a thousand meters in size, could leave any visible traces at all.
You could. The series collision exceeded all expectations: each hit caused a burst of explosion. The “scars” could be seen in Jupiter’s atmosphere for weeks — even in amateur telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope, which was still brand new at the time, made its first appearance, attracting worldwide attention.
But for Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 it was the end. The comet was simply “unlucky” to have been captured by Jupiter and forced onto its deadly orbit over the course of a few decades. In return, he presented astronomy fans with a unique spectacle.