Impact Jupiter: The Crash of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 - Softcover

Levy, David H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0306450887 ISBN 13: 9780306450884

Publisher: Springer, 1995

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

David H. Levy has discovered twenty-one comets, eight of them using his own backyard telescope. He is the Science Editor for Parade magazine and author of several books including Comets: Creators and Destroyers. He also writes the monthly "Star Trails" column in Sky and Telescope. In 1997 he won an Emmy for his writing on the Discovery Channel's documentary Three Minutes to Impact. He lives in Arizona.

From Booklist:

On a cloudy winter night in 1993, Levy and his friends and fellow skywatchers Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker discovered the oddly shaped comet that, just six months later, crashed into Jupiter and provided earthlings with a spectacular and sobering demonstration of nature's might. As Levy, popular author of numerous books, including The Quest for Comets (1994), chronicles the entire fascinating Shoemaker-Levy 9 saga, we're struck by how radically science has been changed by computer technology. We're now capable of the instantaneous transmission of information and images not only from anywhere on earth, but, with the advent of mobile robotic observers such as the Hubble Space Telescope, from far out in the galaxy. Hubble captured one astonishing picture after another of the comet fragments hurtling toward Jupiter, the plumes their impacts sent spraying up into space, and the "wounds" sustained by the gas giant. Millions of people watched the glorious demise of Shoemaker-Levy 9 both on television and on the Internet, and Levy's delight in the technology that made this media hype possible, and in his own moments in the spotlight, is palpable in his fast-paced, informatively descriptive account. Donna Seaman

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0306450887
• ISBN 13: 9780306450884
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304