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

小行星9322127 苏梅克-列维9号彗星的碎片撞击木星可能会向木星大气层释放大量能量。 威廉·科克伦博士和他的同事们组成了一个彗星科学小组，将使用麦克唐纳天文台的所有设施来收集有关这一事件的数据。 该小组将在撞击事件发生前几个月收集彗星的天体测量数据和物理观测数据。 撞击前木星大气层的状态将被详细描述。 在撞击期间，需要调查的领域包括：从进入点升起的加热气体火球、火球从深层大气层带上来的温暖大气和彗星物质在高层大气中的冷却和凝结、大气对撞击事件的动态反应、撞击对木星磁层和极光发射的影响、以及研究平流层中可能新形成的化学物种。

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.