McDonald Observatory Study of the Impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter

苏梅克-列维9号彗星的碎片对木星的撞击可能会向木星大气层释放大量的能量。威廉·科克伦博士和他的同事们组成了一个彗星科学小组，他们将利用麦克唐纳天文台的所有设备来收集这一事件的数据。该小组将在撞击事件发生前的几个月里收集彗星的天文测量数据和物理观测数据。木星大气层在撞击前的状态将被详细描述。在撞击期间，要研究的领域包括从进入地点上升的加热气体火球、温暖大气在上层大气中的冷却和凝结以及火球从深层大气中带来的彗星物质、大气对撞击事件反应的动力学、撞击对木星磁层和极光发射的影响，以及对平流层中可能新形成的化学物质的研究。

9322127 Cochran The impact of the pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter will probably release a large amount of energy into the Jovian atmosphere. Dr. William Cochran and colleagues have formed a Comet Science Team that will have the use of all of the facilities of the McDonald Observatory to gather data on this event. The Team will gather astrometric data and physical observations on the comet during the months prior to the impact event. The pre-impact state of the Jovian atmosphere will be characterized in detail. During the time of the impact, areas to be investigated include the fireball of heated gas rising from the entry site, the cooling and condensation in the upper atmosphere of the warm atmospheric and cometary material brought up from the deep atmosphere by the fireball, the dynamics of the atmospheric reaction to the impact event, the influence of the impact on the Jovian magnetosphere and auroral emissions, and the study of possible newly formed chemical species in the stratosphere.