Philips Atlas of the Universe

THE SOLAR SYSTEM

▲ Model of the Galileo

probe,at the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory, California.

▼ The disruption of

Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.

This HST image taken in May

1994 shows the comet

broken into over 20 pieces.

▼Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.

This is a composite HST image

taken in visible light showing

the temporal evolution of the

brightest region of the comet.

In this false-colour

representation, different

shades of red are used to

display different intensities of

light: 1 July 1993– data taken

prior to the HST servicing

mission. The separation of the

two brightest fragments is

only 0.3”, so ground-based

telescopes could not resolve

this pair. The other two

fragments just to the right of

the closely spaced pair are

only barely detectable due to

HST’s spherical aberration.

24 January 1994 – the first HST

observation after the

successful servicing mission.

The two brightest fragments

are now about 1” apart, and

the two fainter fragments

are much more clearly

seen. The light near the

faintest fragment is not

as concentrated as the

light from the others and is

elongated in the direction of

the comet’s tail. 30 March 1994

• the latest HST observation
  shows that the faintest
  fragment has become a barely
  discernible ‘puff’. Also, the
  second faintest fragment has
  clearly split into two distinct
  fragments by March.

Model of the Galileo

probe,at the Jet Propulsion

Laboratory, California.

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