This is an image of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, broken into many pieces. Click on image for full size version (29K JPG) Image courtesy of NASA/NSSDC and the Space Telescope Science Institute

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was the ninth comet discovered by Gene Shoemaker, his wife Carolyn, and partner David Levy, in 1993.

The comet had first broken apart in space in 1992, after a close passage near the planet Jupiter, and then plunged directly into Jupiter on its very next pass by the giant planet in 1994.

The crash of the comet into the planet, a once in a millennium event, has helped scientists learn a great deal more about comets, Jupiter, orbits, and the history of the solar system itself. For example, observations now suggest that moons of Jupiter have been struck by strings of comets in the past.