Comet Shoemaker-Levy hits Jupiter

July 17, 1994

Fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, torn apart by Jupiter's gravity, slammed into the giant planet over six days in a series of impacts visible from Earth. Each impact scar was larger than our planet. Astronomers had rehearsed nothing like this. The event was a reminder of what could happen if a similar object ever came for us.