A highly stretched pair of images showing the precursor of the first 
impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. This presentation focuses 
on the southeast limb of the planet. The south polar cap (bottom right) 
and the Great Red Spot (upper center) appear bright at the wavelength of
the observations, 2.3 um, which was selected to maximize contrast 
between the impact structures and the jovian atmosphere. 

The left frame was taken at 20:11:10 UT on the 16th of July, and the 
right hand frame at 20:11:30. The A impact precursor appears on the limb
of Jupiter in the right hand frame, just above the edge of the south 
polar cap. 

Image taken with the MAGIC infrared camera on the 3.5 meter telescope on
Calar Alto. 

Picture Credits: 

Tom Herbst, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie, Heidelberg, Doug 
Hamilton, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Hermann 
Boehnhardt, Universitaets-Sternewarte, Muenchen, and Jose Luis Ortiz 
Moreno, Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada.