Fragment H collision time-sequence

A time sequence showing the impact of Fragment H of Comet 
Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter at approximately 19:35 GMT 
on July 18 1994. The upper left frame shows the planet 
just before impact. The satellite Ganymede is visible in 
the upper left corner, and the diffuse blob in the south 
is the site of previous impacts D and G. Equatorial 
stripes are visible as well as the bright polar caps at 
top and bottom. The second frame (upper right) shows the 
rising fireball just to the left of the previous impact 
site. In the third frame (lower left), taken about 7 minutes 
later, the fireball is near its maximum brightness. The 
fourth frame (lower right), taken 16 minutes after the third, 
shows a flattened and faded fireball. This is the eighth of 
more than 20 impacts occuring between July 16 and July 22. 


Observers at Calar Alto:

Tom Herbst, Kurt Birkle, Ulrich Thiele 
(Max-Plack-Institut fuer Astronomie, Heidelberg, Germany) 

Doug Hamilton 
(Max-Plack-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany)

Hermann Boenhardt, Alex Fiedler, Karl-Heinz Mantel 
(Universitaets Sternwarte Muenchen, Germany) 

Jose Luis Ortiz 
(Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain) 

Giovanni Calamai, Andrea Richichi 
(Osservatorio di Arcetri, Firenze, Italy) 


Contact: Mark McCaughrean, Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astronomie 
         Koenigstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany 
         Phone: (49) 6221 528 303 
         FAX:   (49) 6221 528 246 
         e-mail mjm@mpia-hd.mpg.de (Internet)