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The Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter

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Abstract

The discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in March 1993 opened an extraordinary few years in the study of the history of impacts in the solar system. This review paper offers a background that attempts to set the events of 1993 and 1994 into a historical context, and describes events leading to the discovery and the mounting of a unique and unprecedented international effort to observe the comet's collision with Jupiter. A selection of the results is presented to explore how the fate of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 has affected scientific and popular understanding of impacts in the solar system.

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Levy, D.H. The Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. Space Science Reviews 85, 523–545 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005079807445

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