Moreno, F., A. Molina, O. Mu\~noz, J.L. Ortiz, J.J. L\'opez-Moreno, S.M. Larson, H. Campins, T.M. Herbst, K. Birkle, H. Böhnhardt and D.P. Hamilton 1995. Visible and near-infrared observations of the aerosol debris from the collision of SL-9 with Jupiter: A review from La Palma and Calar Alto imaging and spectroscopy. In Proceedings of the European SL-9 Workshop, R. West and H. Böhnhardt, Eds., 311-316.


We present results from analysis of imagery and spectra of the effects of the collision of fragment H of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with the Jovian atmosphere. The images were obtained using several narrow-band filters at UV trough 2.3 $\mu$m wavelength under excellent seeing conditions. The large range incidence and emission angles at which the impact site was recorded allowed us to obtain the physical properties of the debris particles generated. We found that the particles were confined between 1 and 450 mbar, had a modal radius of 0.15 $\mu$m, and imaginary refractive index of 0.02 in the UV and 0.006 in the 1 $\mu$m region, in close agreement with the reported values by West et al. (1995) from Hubble Space Telescope imagery. The derived lower limit of the impactor size correspond to the volume of a sphere of 230 m in diameter.
Return to Doug Hamilton's Publication List