What is Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9?
[[File:Shoemaker-Levy 9 on 1994-05-17.png|thumb|Pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on May 17, 1994]] '''Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9''' was a [[comet]]. It broke apart and crashed into [[Jupiter]], in July 1994. The event was special because people could see, for the first time, how objects in the [[Solar System]], outside [[Earth]], collided.<ref name=NASA2005>{{cite web |url= http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/comet.html |title= Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Collision with Jupiter |access-date= 2008-08-26 |publisher=[[NASA]] |date= February 2005}}</ref> It caused a large amount of coverage in the [[media]]. The comet was carefully watched by [[astronomer]]s worldwide. The crash gave new information about Jupiter. It also showed up its role in reducing [[space debris]] in the [[Solar_system#Inner_planets|inner Solar System]]{{Broken anchor|date=2024-06-17|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=Solar_system#Inner planets|reason= }}. The name came out of the discovers' last names. == Discovery of this comet == The comet was discovered by astronomers [[Carolyn S. Shoemaker|Carolyn]] and [[Eugene Merle Shoemaker|Eugene M. Shoemaker]] and [[David H. Levy|David Levy]] on March 24, 1993. It was found in a [[photograph|picture]] taken by the {{convert|40|cm|ftin}} [[Schmidt camera|Schmidt telescope]] at the [[Palomar Observatory]], in [[California]]. When it was discovered, it was [[orbit]]ing Jupiter. It was the first comet seen to be orbiting a planet. Scientists think that it had been orbiting the planet for 20 - 30 years before its discovery. == Crash == Calculations showed that its unusual broken up form was due to a previous closer approach to Jupiter in July 1992. At that time, the orbit of Shoemaker-Levy 9 passed within Jupiter's [[Roche limit]]. Jupiter's [[tidal force]]s had acted to pull the comet apart. The comet was later observed as a series of pieces up to {{Convert|2|km|mi|abbr=on}} in diameter. These fragments collided with Jupiter's southern [[hemisphere]] between July&nbsp;16 and July 22,