Impact Jupiter: The Crash of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

By David H. Levy

On July 16, 1994 a world-shattering event occurred that would rivet our attention for six explosive days and go on to make history as the single most important celestial event of the century. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter, changing forever our understanding of comets and cosmic cataclysms. Our own sense of security would never be the same as the world witnessed fragment after fragment of the comet bash into Jupiter with the collective equivalent force of a 50-million-megaton bomb. David Levy, co-discoverer of periodic Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, shares his once-in-several-lifetimes' story from the time of the discovery, with Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker, of this unusual "squashed" comet to the later shocking revelation of hearing that "their" comet was destined to collide with Jupiter. Never in recorded history has a comet created such a catastrophic event as smashing into a planet. Impact Jupiter takes off where David Levy's earlier acclaimed book, The Quest for Comets, left us. Magnificent photos of the impacts, including superb color pictures, accompany David's poetic words, vividly bringing to life his thrilling story. Savor the words of one of the world's most celebrated amateur astronomers as he humbly and eloquently opens the beauty of the heavens to all who are curious.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738208809
• ISBN13: 9780738208800
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A Smashing Story That Will Leave A Big Impact On You

In July 1994, a once-in-a-lifetime event occurred: a planetary impact in our solar system. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 headed straight for the comet and asteroid magnet known as Jupiter, our largest planet. Without Jupiter to act as a giant cue ball for incoming debris, it's unlikely that we would be here on planet Earth today, as there would be far more dangerous Earth impacts affecting life on our planet beyond the normal once-every-23 million years global wipeouts that have been occurring since life sprung up on our blue planet.David Levy's book is a personal odyssey of how he and the Shoemaker's (Carolyn and Gene, the latter deceased as of 1998) happened to discover the impact of SL-9 in 1995. It was the first of 3 consecutive comet shows during the 1990's, with Comet Hyukatuke in 1996 and Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 helping to revitalize astronomy and comet interest after the disappointing return of much-expected Halley's Comet in 1986.The book does a good job of letting you experience the thrills that Levy and others went through during their confirming that the comet would hit Jupiter and the buildup to the expected collision dates. The diaries of the media frenzy are particularly illuminating. The one area where the book falls short is not having enough color photos of the impacts themselves. Published in 1995, "Impact Jupiter" should have had access to enough color photos, especially from the Hubble Space Telescope. There are some decent black-and-white shots, some interesting drawings and sketchings, but more color photos from the HST or other telescopes should have been included. Needless to say, there are a ton of such shots now available on the internet or in some quality astronomy and Hubble Telescope books.All in all, an enjoyable and in-depth read on an event that had a long buildup and then was over in the course of a few days. Perhaps if we are lucky we will get another chance to witness a planetary impact in our solar system -- and hopefully, NOT on planet Earth!