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Welcome to the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Page
                                          










Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 (D/1993 F2) taken by H. Weaver and E. Smith (STSci) on May 17,1994 with the HST Wide-Angle Camera.



Introduction


Shoemaker Levy 9 was discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy on March 24, 1993. As they continued observing, they noted that it had an abnormal shape. Orbital calculations based on subsequent observations revealed that the comet had been trapped by Jupiter and was in an unstable orbit and that it had passed within Jupiter’s Roche limit in July 1992. It was determined that the comet broke apart into at least 21 fragments and that it would collide with Jupiter in July 1994, arriving one piece at a time. The separation of the fragments was such that the impacts would arrive as the planet rotated creating potential disturbances at about 42 degrees south latitude for almost a week.



The impacts of the fragments were designated A to W and the following table summarizes the events.


Impact Time (UTC)					Impact Location		Meridian Angle	Angular Distance
Fragment	Date	Predicted	Accepted	Lag	Lat.	Long
								Behind Limb
	(July)	(h m s)	(h m s)	s	(deg)	(deg)	(deg)	(deg)
A	16	19:59:40	20:10:40	60	-43.35	184	65.4	7.7
B	17	2:54:13	2:50:00	180	-43.22	67	63.92	8.8
C	17	7:02:14	7:10:50	60	-43.47	222	66.14	7.1
D	17	11:47:00	11:52:30	60	-43.53	33	66.16	7.1
E	17	15:05:31	15:11:40	120	-43.54	153	66.4	6.9
F	18	0:29:21	0:35:45	300	-43.68	135	65.3	7.7
G	18	7:28:32	7:33:33	3	-43.66	26	67.09	6.4
H	18	19:25:53	19:31:59	1	-43.79	99	67.47	6.1
J	19	2:40	1:35	3600	-43.75	~316	68.05	~6
K	19	10:18:32	10:24:17	2	-43.86	278	68.32	5.5
L	19	22:08:53	22:16:49	1	-43.96	348	68.86	5.1
M	20	5:45	6:00	600	-43.93	~264	69.25	~5
N	20	10:20:02	10:29:20	2	-44.31	71	68.68	5.1
P2	20	15:16:20	15:21:11	300	-44.69	249	67.58	5.8
P1	20	16:30	16:32:35	800	-45.02	~293	65.96	6.9
Q2	20	19:47:11	19:44:00	60	-44.32	46	69.26	4.7
Q1	20	20:04:09	20:13:53	1	-44	63	69.85	4.3
R	21	5:28:50	5:34:57	10	-44.1	42	70.21	4.1
S	21	15:12:49	15:16:30	60	-44.22	33	70.34	4
T	21	18:03:45	18:09:56	300	-45.01	141	67.73	5.7
U	21	21:48:30	22:00:02	300	-44.48	278	69.54	4.5
V	22	4:16:53	4:23:20	60	-44.47	149	69.96	4.2
W	22	17:59:45	8:06:16	1	-44.13	283	71.19	3.4



Datasets for the following facilities or spacecrafts are stored in volumes 1-12 and are available


Volume 1 Certified

Galileo/NIMS, PPR, SSI and UVS
International Ultraviolet Explorer
OASIS/OAO - FRAGMENT K
Voyager 2/UVS - Null results


Volume 2 Certified

IRTF NSFCAM - Near-IR images


Volume 3 Certified

MSSSO CASPIR - Near-IR images


Volume 4 Certified

MSSSO CASPIR - Near-IR Calibration
ESO EMMI - ESO Multi Mode Instrument
IRSPEC - Infrared Spectrometer
SUSI – narrow band images


Volume 5 Certified and Volume 6 Certified

Hubble Space Telescope the Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2)


Volume 7 Failed to pass peer review

South Pole IR observer
Keck Observatory (fragments A, B and D)
South African Astronomical Observatory

Volume 8 Certified Anglo-Australian Observatory


Volume 9 Certified Anglo-Australian Observatory


Volume 10 Certified Anglo-Australian Observatory


Volume 11 Certified Anglo-Australian Observatory


Volume 12 Certified These data contain observations for C, D, G, K, N, R, V, and W impacts in addition to before and after observations for baseline and comparison. They utilized spectral mapping using a scanning 1.2 arcsecond slit from wavelength scale between 2.2 and 2.39 microns for K-band

Volume 8 fragments C & D.
Volume 9 fragment G
Volume 10 fragments K and N
Volume 11 fragment R
Volume 12 fragment W