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Article: Jovian comet crash: puzzles and insights. (Comet Shoemaker-Levy collision reveals new information about Jupiter's upper atmosphere)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- October 8, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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More than 2 months after the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 plowed into Jupiter, astronomers continue their struggle to understand exactly what the impacts have revealed about the inside of the gaseous planet. But if much of the Jovian interior remains a mystery, the debris carried aloft by the collisions have dredged up new insights about the planet's upper atmosphere.
Minutes after several of the larger fragments hit Jupiter, plumes of dark debris shot through the Jovian cloud tops. Over days to weeks, as the dusty material slowly settled, high-altitude winds set some of the debris adrift.
Just as a colored dye traces the swirling motion of water, ...