July 17, 1994
This is an image of Jupiter obtained with the 0.8-m telescope of McDonald Observatory on 17 July 1994. The spot where the B (or second) fragment should hit would be at a latitude of -45 degrees on the central meridian. This images is taken with a filter which isolates the colors at which methane gas absorbs light. This means that regions with a clear upper atmosphere will be dark because the methane absorbs light while bright regions have cloud or haze particles in the stratosphere above the methane gas. No evidence of the impact site is visible. The South Pole of Jupiter is the brighter edge to the bottom of the image.
This image was obtained by Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Chan Na (SouthWest Research Institute), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas at Austin).
July 18, 1994
This is an image of Jupiter taken with a CCD camera on the 0.8-m telescope at McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas. This picture was taken at a color at which methane gas absorbs strongly; thus, most of the planet is dark, but regions with particles in the upper atmosphere above most of the absorbing methane gas appear bright. The equatorial regions and the Great Red Spot show very prominently, as do the north and south polar hoods. North is to the upper left. There are two disturbances due to the impact of pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. These are located above the south polar hood near the east (left) limb of the planet. The one nearest the limb is from piece A, and the one nearer the center is from pieces E and F, which hit in nearly the same place on Jupiter.
These images were taken by Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas).
This is an infrared image of Jupiter taken with ROKCAM on the University of Texas McDonald Observatory 2.7-m telescope at the wavelength of 2.3 microns. At this wavelength, absorption of light by methane gas makes the planet appear very dark. The only features visible are from the stratosphere of Jupiter. We see a haze of particles reflecting sunlight over both the north and south poles, as well as bright spots at the locations of the impacts of pieces A, D, and E/F (merged together) of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. The site of the D impact is rotating out of view on the west limb of Jupiter at the lower right part of the image. The A impact site has just rotated into view on the east limb of Jupiter at the lower left of the image. Pieces E and F hit very close to the same spot on Jupiter one Jupiter day apart and result in the bright complex just above A. South is to the bottom in this image and the North polar hood is at the top.
These observations were made by Dr. Dan Lester, Dr. Beth Clark, Dr. William Cochran (all University of Texas), and Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland).
July 19, 1994
This is a CCD image taken 19 July UT (18 July CDT) at 02:22 UT (9:22 p.m. CDT) with the 0.8-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. An 893-nm filter which isolates absorption by methane gas was used. This filter makes high cloud features appear bright. North is at the top and west is to the right. Three white ovals which are not associated with the comet are visible across the central meridian. To the south and west of these white ovals the impact locations of two comet fragments are visible as bright spots. The spot due to comet fragment A is on the west limb, and the spot due to fragment C is to the east of it. The black spot just below the north polar hood is the shadow of the Jovian moon Ganymede.
This image was taken by Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas).
This is a CCD image taken 19 July UT (18 July CDT) at 02:23 UT (9:23 p.m. CDT) with the 0.8-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. An 764-nm filter was used. This filter shows the cloud tops of Jupiter. North is at the top, and west is to the right. In the southern hemisphere three white ovals which are not associated with the comet are visible across the central meridian. To the south and west of these white ovals the impact location of comet fragment C is visible as a subtle dark patch. Barely visible near the north polar region is the shadow of the Jovian moon Ganymede.
This image was taken by Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas).
This is a CCD image taken 19 July UT (18 July CDT) at 04:47 UT (11:47 p.m. CDT) with the 0.8-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. An 893-nm filter which isolates absorption by methane gas was used. This filter makes high cloud features appear bright. North is at the top, and west is to the right. The impact spot of pieces G and D is rotating into view around the east (left) limb. The spot appears to be extended with two distinguishable bright points.
This image was taken by Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas).
This is a ROKCAM infrared camera image taken 19 July UT (18 July CDT) at 00:09 UT (7:09 p.m. CDT) with the 2.7-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. A filter was used to isolate absorption by methane gas at 2.3 microns. This allowed observations to be made in daytime. This filter makes high cloud features appear bright. North is at the top, and west is to the right. The north and south polar hoods are clearly visible because these regions have a large number of haze particles in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter. The four bright spots to the north of the south polar hood are the impact locations of comet fragments. The spot rotating out of view on the west limb is from piece H. The next one to the east is the brightest spot, which is due to comet fragments E and F, which hit in nearly the same place on the disk of Jupiter. The other two spots are due to fragments A and C. The very bright object to the west of Jupiter is the satellite Ganymede.
This image was taken by Dr. Beth Clark, Dr. William Cochran (both University of Texas), and Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland).
This is a ROKCAM infrared camera image taken 19 July at 05:18 UT (00:18 a.m. CDT) with the 2.7-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. A filter was used to isolate absorption by molecular hydrogen gas at 2.12 microns. North is at the top, and west is to the right. The bright spot on the southern portion of the disk of Jupiter is the location which was hit by comet fragment G.
This image was taken by Dr. Beth Clark, Dr. William Cochran (both University of Texas), and Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland).
July 20, 1994
This pair of images was obtained with the 0.8-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory on 20 Jul 1994 UT (19 Jul CDT) at 03:02 and 03:06 UT (10:02 p.m. and 10:06 p.m. CDT). North is up, and east is on the left. An 893-nm filter which isolates absorption by methane gas was used for the left image. This filter makes high cloud features appear bright. An 829-nm filter was used for the right hand image. This filter is similar to what would be seen by a human eye. In the methane image, we see three bright impact sites. The impact site from piece L is on the right limb in this image. The G and D impact sites (merged together) are just to the left of the L site. The H impact site is near the east (left) limb. The Great Red Spot can be seen just coming over the east limb. Note the structure of the impact sites, especially the G site. The sites all clearly show a central spot, some dark space, and then an arc of material to the southwest. In comparison, the 829-nm image shows only the G and H impact sites since the L site is lost in the limb darkening. The Great Red Spot is not very easily seen in the 829-nm image. Note, also, the difference in the polar hoods and the bands of Jupiter.
This image was obtained by Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas).
This is a CCD image taken 20 July UT (19 July CDT) at 02:00 UT (9:00 p.m. CDT) with the 0.8-m telescope of the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. An 893-nm filter which isolates absorption by methane gas was used. This filter makes high cloud features appear bright. North is at the top, and west is to the right. This image was obtained prior to sunset. In this image, impact sites from fragments L and G are clearly visible. This image was taken four hours after the L impact. The L impact site is the one nearest the west (right) limb. Notice the central dark region and the fountain pattern to the southwest. The G impact site is on the central meridian. It shows a central impact spot with a diffuse fan which also points to the southwest. The G impact occurred four Jupiter days before this image. The impact site for fragment H is just coming onto the east limb (left) and can be seen where it appears detached from the planet and may be a very high cloud.
This image was taken by Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University of Texas).
This image was taken with ROKCAM on the University of Texas McDonald Observatory 2.7-m telescope in the methane band (2.3 microns) on July 20 2:10 UT (July 19 9:10 p.m. CDT). This filter makes high cloud features appear bright. Seen are impact sites L, D/G, and H. Site L shows some structure toward the southwest limb. Site D/G is toward the central meridian, and H is just coming over the limb. In this image, site L is ten times brighter than the south polar hood, and site D/G is five times brighter than the south polar hood.
This image was made by Dr. Beth Clark (University of Texas), Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland), and Dr. Bill Cochran (University of Texas) at the 2.7-meter telescope at McDonald Observatory.
This image was made with ROKCAM at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory 2.7-meter telescope on Mt. Locke. Taken at 2.12 microns (an absorption band of molecular hydrogen) on July 20 4:20 UT (July 19 11:20 p.m. CDT), this image shows impact sites A, E/F, H, and D/G (left to right). As displayed, north is on top and east on the left. This picture is somewhat amusing if turned upside down.
Made by Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland), Dr. Beth Clark (University of Texas), and Dr. Bill Cochran (University of Texas).
July 21, 1994
We show a mosaic of four images of the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragment R into Jupiter. The upper images were taken with the ROKCAM infrared camera on the McDonald Observatory 2.7-m telescope in a filter which isolates absorption by molecular hydrogen at 2.12 microns. The lower images were taken at the same times as the upper images, but are CCD frames taken with the 0.8-m telescope in a filter which isolates absorption by methane gas at 0.893 microns. The left two images were taken on 1994 July 21 05:41 UT, and the two right images were taken at 05:43 UT. The upper right infrared image shows the brightening due to the impact of fragment R. This flash saturated the detector, and the actual increase in brightness is more than can be shown in this image. Our data show that the flash increased by a factor of two in consecutive images taken 18 seconds apart. This brightening is not seen in the CCD image in the lower right. This is because the fireball was not hot enough to produce significant flux at the shorter wavelength of the CCD image.
ROKCAM images were taken by Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland), Dr Beth Clark, and Dr. William Cochran (University of Texas). CCD images were taken by Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), and Dr. Anita Cochran (University Texas).
July 22, 1994
McDonald Observatory Images of the Effects of the Impacts of Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 on Jupiter taken 22 July 1994
Since our observations of the U and V impacts did not show any flashes or plumes, we present a set of images in five different wavelengths taken at McDonald Observatory on 22 July 1994 UT. In all of these images, north is at the top, and west is on the right. The impact sites seen are: E/F, H, the G-D/S-Q1/Q2/R complex, and L going from east to west (left to right).
The images are:
- The 829-nm continuum image showing the five dark impact sites.
- The methane band image (893-nm) showing the same sites as bright spots. This indicates these features are high in the atmosphere.
- The continuum image (1.58 microns) showing almost complete lack of structure at the impact sites. This lack of features could indicate an intermediate case between absorption in regions of low atmospheric opacity and reflection/thermal emission in regions of high atmospheric opacity.
- The molecular hydrogen band filter image (2.12 microns) with the Jupiter satellite Io moving in toward occultation from the right.
- A methane band image (2.3 microns) showing complete absorption by the disc of Jupiter except for the poles and the impact sites.
Image Wavelength Time (UT) Telescope 1 829 nm 03:58 0.8-m CCD 2 893 nm 04:00 0.8-m CCD 3 1580 nm 03:34 2.7-m ROKCAM 4 2122 nm 03:52 2.7-m ROKCAM 5 2300 nm 03:25 2.7-m ROKCAM
Observers: Dr. Chan Na (Southwest Research Institute), Dr. Wayne Pryor (University of Colorado), Dr. Yongha Kim (University of Maryland) Dr. Anita Cochran, Dr. Beth Clark, Dr. William Cochran, Dr. Judit Ries, Mr. Anand Kudari (University of Texas), and Dr. Edwin Barker (NASA Headquarters)
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