July 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into the planet
Jupiter. It was in March 1993, that astronomers discovered the
strange celestial fairy made up of 24 aligned fragments
traveling close to the biggest planet of our solar system. For
over 15 months the scientific world observed the fragments,
calculated with precision their collisions, and tried to imagine
the effects and consequences of this encounter. Right from the
start with the very first impacts, the observers were greatly
surprised, indeed astonished, by the extent of the "cosmic
show." These "things" which exploded in the upper atmosphere of
Jupiter from July 16 to 22, 1994, produced different visible or
detectable effects such as giant fireballs, plumes that rose to
an altitude of 3300 kilometers, debris fall-out which created
gigantic dark stains reaching the enormity of FOUR TIMES THE
SIZE OF THE EARTH, all this, as well as the effects in the
infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays, and other observations less
spectacular but by no means less impor