What happens when a comet collides with a gas giant? In July 1994, Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter in a spectacular series of 21 explosions, creating fireballs bigger than Earth itself. This was ...

The comet broke into 21 fragments, which continued to orbit around Jupiter. It was discovered the ... between July 16 and July 22, 1994. The largest of these fragments was 2 kilometers (1.2 ...

This image from NASA’s Juno spacecraft captures several storms in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere (Figure A). Titanic blasts created by the impacts of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments left Jupiter with ...

Add the Jupiter crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy in 1994, Halley's most recent visit in 1986, vivid comet West in 1976, and the scientifically signifiant—if visually disappointing—Kohoutek in ...

There’s plenty more before those, too, including the famous 1994 collision between comet Shoemaker-Levy and Jupiter. Spoiler: Jupiter won that game of cosmic chicken going away. The only ...