This image, taken at 2.26 um, shows Jupiter with three impact sites (A, H, and G from left to right), a bright star in the lower center, and Fragment K of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 approximately 45 minutes before impact (arrow; ~2.5 Rj from the planet center) before impact (arrow). The fragment is very faint compared to Jupiter and the star, and the scattered light from Jupiter has been artifically suppressed in order to enhance the fragment's contrast versus the background; this process has also reduced the comet's visible extent to that of a point source. The fragment is moving relative to Jupiter in the direction indicated by the arrow. Other bright points in the image are faint stars.

This image was taken in a 30 second exposure using the NASA/IRTF 256 x 256 pixel InSb near infrared camera, NSFCAM, at 09:26 July 19, 1994 UT. 

NASA IRTF Comet Collision Team