Definition
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) was discovered in March 1993 by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and by David Levy. At that time, it appeared as a trail of about 20 fragments. The study of their trajectories showed that it was a Jupiter-family comet which was disrupted by tidal forces at its previous closest (perijove) passage, in July 1992. It was soon predicted that the fragments would collide with Jupiter at its next closest passage, in July 1994 (Fig. 1).
Image of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 before its impact with Jupiter (© NASA)
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References and Further Reading
Encrenaz T (2001) Shoemaker-Levy-Jupiter collision. In: Murdin P (ed) Encyclopedia of astronomy and astrophysics. IoP Publishing, Bristol, pp 2413–2420
Noll KS, Weaver HA, Feldman PD (eds) (1996) The collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy and Jupiter. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Spencer KR, Mitton J (eds) (1995) The great comet crash. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
West RM, Bohnhardt H (eds) (1995) Proc European workshop on the SL9-Jupiter Collision, no. 52, Garching, ESO
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Encrenaz, T. (2023). Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-65093-6_329
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