D/1993 F2 (Shoemaker-Levy 9)The "string of pearls" comet that crashed into Jupiter in July 1994
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a comet captured into orbit around Jupiter that was torn apart by the planet's tidal forces during a close 1992 pass, breaking into a line of about 21 fragments famously dubbed the "string of pearls." Between July 16 and 22, 1994, those fragments slammed into Jupiter's southern hemisphere at roughly 60 km/s, leaving dark impact scars larger than Earth and providing humanity's first-ever direct observation of two Solar System bodies colliding. The dramatic event was tracked worldwide and captured in detail by the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Designation
- D/1993 F2 (Shoemaker-Levy 9)
- Type
- Short-period
- Orbital period
- ~2 years around Jupiter (destroyed 1994)
- Discovery
- Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy, March 24, 1993, at Palomar Observatory
