The Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter: IAU Colloquium 156

by Edited by Keith S. Noll , Harold A. Weaver , Paul D. Feldman

• ISBN13: 9780521031622
• ISBN10: 0521031621
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-23
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The spectacular collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994 was a unique event in the history of observational astronomy. With a year's advance warning, astronomers and planetary scientists around the world were able to co-ordinate an observing campaign to track the event in unprecedented detail. A year after the event, a workshop at the Space Telescope Science Institute provided the first opportunity for them to bring together their observations and found a new understanding of the impact. Based on this meeting, sixteen invited reviews from authors selected as international leaders in the study of the impact and its aftermath are presented in this volume. The chapters have been edited and arranged to provide a thorough and comprehensive overview of our knowledge of the event. While our understanding of the impact will evolve with future work, this book provides a solid foundation for new insights that will follow. It will be a standard reference for graduate students and researchers in astronomy and planetary science.

Table of Contents

Participants

Preface

The orbital motion and impact circumstances of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Observational constraints on the composition and nature of Comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9

Tidal breakup of the nucleus of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

Earth-based observations of impact phenomena

HST imaging of Jupiter shortly after each impact: Plumes and fresh sites

Galileo observations of the impacts

Models of fragment penetration and fireball evolution

Entry and fireball models vs. observations: what have we learned?

Dynamics and chemistry of SL9 plumes

Chemistry induced by the impacts: observations

SL9 impact chemistry: long-term photochemical evolution

Particulate matter in Jupiter's atmosphere from the impacts of Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9

Jupiter's post-impact atmospheric thermal response

Growth and dispersion of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact features from HST imaging

Waves from the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts

Jovian magnetospheric and auroral effects of the SL9 impacts

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