
    W. M. KECK TELESCOPE CAPTURES THE IMPACT OF
   COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY 9 FRAGMENT-R ON JUPITER

            5:30 UT, July 21, 1994
              MAUNA KEA, HAWAII

                Astronomers:
 Imke de Pater, James R. Graham, Garrett Jernigan
        University of California, Berkeley

              with support from
    Wendy Harrison, Joel Aycock, David Vezie
     and the staff of the Keck Observatory



The movie shows the impact of Fragment-R of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. The impact was observed
at near-infrared wavelengths, 2.3 microns.

In the beginning of the movie, only part of the
Southern hemisphere is visible with two former impact
sites. The former impact site of Fragments P and Q
appears on the left side. R hits this same spot.

The movie covers a timespan of approximately half an hour.

At 5:33 UT a first flash is detected just above the
impact site, lasting for approximately 20 seconds. A
second flash is detected about 20 seconds later,
lasting for about a minute. Several minutes later the
fireball becomes visible as a bright spot, increasing
rapidly in intensity. Within a few minutes it is
outshining the entire planet. The rise and fall in
intensity takes about 8 minutes.
