Shoemaker-Levy 9

Comet that collided with t he planet Jupiter in July 1994, discovered by Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker and David Levy 16 months earlier. The comet was torn apart into more than 20 fragments during a close encounter with Jupiter in July 1992, resulting in a “string of pearls” that collided sequentially with Jupiter two years later over a period of a week, leaving dark spots larger than Earth at their impact sites in Jupiter's atmosphere.

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