Shoemaker–Levy 9
Shoemaker–Levy 9 was a comet that broke apart and crashed into Jupiter in July 1994.
Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 was discovered in March 1993 by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy, using a telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. It looked very strange: a row of fragments like a string of pearls. Calculations showed it had passed so close to Jupiter in July 1992 that the planet's tidal force tore it apart, and that it was now orbiting Jupiter.
Between 16 and 22 July 1994, more than 20 fragments struck Jupiter's southern hemisphere at about 60 kilometres per second. The impacts produced fireballs and left dark scars, some larger than Earth, that remained visible for months. Telescopes worldwide, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Galileo spacecraft watched.
It was the first collision between Solar System bodies ever observed. The event showed vividly that impacts still happen today and raised public interest in finding asteroids and comets that might threaten Earth.
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Level: Explorer Ages 10 and up