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Comet 1993e (D/1993 F2) Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9)

Comet 1993e (D/1993 F2) Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) was discovered by Carolyn S. and Eugene M. Shoemaker and David H. Levy of Palomar Observotory on photographic plates taken on March 24, 1993. It was soon found that the comet had had a close encounter with Jupiter on July 8, 1992, at which time it had been torn to pieces by tidal forces due to Jupiter's gravitational field. 21 major pieces of the comet were bound to crash into giant planet Jupiter. The collision happened during July 16-22, 1994.

Dates of the predicted and observed collision events: 

Fragment  Date    Prediction      Impact Time
          July    (HH:MM:SS)      & 1-sigma error

A         16      20:00:40        20:11:00 (3 min)
B         17      02:54:13        02:50:00 (6 min)
C         17      07:02:14        07:12:00 (4 min)
D         17      11:47:00        11:54:00 (3 min)
E         17      15:05:31        15:11:00 (3 min)
F         18      00:29:21        00:33:00 (5 min)
G         18      07:28:32        07:32:00 (2 min)
H         18      19:25:53        19:31:59 (1 min)
J         19      02:40           Missing since 12/93
K         19      10:18:32        10:21:00 (4 min)
L         19      22:08:53        22:16:48 (1 min)
M         20      05:45           Missing since 7/93
N         20      10:20:02        10:31:00 (4 min)
P2        20      15:16:20        15:23:00 (7 min)
P1        20      16:30           Missing since 3/94
Q2        20      19:47:11        19:44:00 (6 min)
Q1        20      20:04:09        20:12:00 (4 min)
R         21      05:28:50        05:33:00 (3 min)
S         21      15:12:49        15:15:00 (5 min)
T         21      18:03:45        18:10:00 (7 min)
U         21      21:48:30        21:55:00 (7 min)
V         22      04:16:53        04:22:00 (5 min)
W         22      07:59:45        08:05:30 (3 min)
Links: Images at SEDS:

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