Comet SL9v Hits Jupiter
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, fragment V hits Jupiter,
Observed and sketched by Chris Heilman.
July 21, 1994 9:17pm - 10:41pm MST
(7/22 4:17 - 5:41 UT)
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Impact V was the only comet strike that I was able to observe directly. Except for a few
radio observations, little data was taken on this impact. No fireball was recorded and
there was no persistent spot. However, these images suggest that a transient
disturbance may have occured.
The top 5 images are from Kitt Peak National Observatory. Here is theinformation that came with their images:
Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) Images of Fragment DGHQRS Impacts
Five pictures of Jupiter are shown in time sequence, taken
on July 22 by Beatrice Muller (KPNO) and Cynthia Phillips
(Harvard) at the 0.9-Meter telescope. The spots have been
identified as the GDSR complex, Q1, and H from top to bottom.
The frames are ordered (left to right) RBVIU with approximately
8 1/2 minutes of elapsed time - the first being taken at
4:18.22 (UT). Three comet impact sites are evident on the right
side of each frame.
The lower set of images are 5 sketches made by Chris Heilman
as described below.
These 9 images are scanned sketches which were made freehand
and in real time: eye at the 'scope, pencil at the notebook. Each
drawing took from 2 to 4 minutes to complete, although poor
conditions required longer 'exposure' to get the same levelof detail. No detail was added later, however some image enhancement
was done:
The pictures were resized, so Jupiter would not grow and shrink.
Each picture was rotated for a uniform tilt, south is up for each.
The images of Jupiter (and the moon, Ganymede) were registered.
Contrast and brightness extremes were adjusted to fit together.
Finally, a uniform grey background was added to all pictures.
The telescope used was a 6 inch f/4.9 reflector built by Pierre
Schwaar with a 6mm orthoscopic eyepiece and a (Celestron Ultima)
2X barlow lens. The magnification is 247x, however the pictures
are twice as big as the viewed image, so at 72 dpi pitch, these
images represent about a 500x view.
Local viewing conditions were poor. The site is south of Phoenix,
Arizona, and was socked in with monsoon clouds for most of the
evening. Good clarity and seeing held until 8:40pm MST when thin
clouds took some contrast away, but the seeing was steady. Two
large impact were seen near the border of the South Polar Region
one near the meridian and the other half way to the preceding limb,and a smaller impact close to the following limb. A sketch was made
but not included here. Another sketch was made at 9:15 to 9:17,
the calculated impact time. No fireball was observed.
At 9:19 the clouds thickened, to the point that Jupiter resembled
the Owl nebula. Until 9:40, almost no planetary detail could be
recognized. At 9:40 some holes in the clouds gave periodic
good views with periods of near opacity between them. At 10:30
the clouds cleared, but Jupiter was low in the sky and seeing
rapidly deteriorated.
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