Press Play or drag the progress slider to replay Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's real 1992-1994 encounter with Jupiter - a comet torn apart by Jupiter's own gravity, then 11 of its named fragments striking the planet one by one in July 1994.
Shoemaker-Levy 9 Jupiter Impact 3D Explorer
Scrub the progress slider to replay Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's real encounter with Jupiter: torn apart by Jupiter's own gravity in 1992, then 11 of its named fragments striking the planet one by one across a single week in July 1994 - the first collision between two Solar System bodies ever directly predicted and observed.
Drag to orbit the view, scroll or pinch to zoom, and press Play or Pause to animate the timeline. Drag the progress slider to jump straight to any of the 13 real milestones, click Jupiter or any fragment or scar marker to refresh the facts panel, and press "Show Earth-size overlay" once Fragment G's scar appears to compare it directly against Earth's real diameter.
The facts panel lists the real published dates and figures: the 7 July 1992 tidal breakup inside Jupiter's Roche limit, the 24 March 1993 discovery at Palomar Observatory, and the 11 individually dated fragment impacts from Fragment A on 16 July 1994 through Fragment W - the final impact, imaged directly by the passing Galileo spacecraft - on 22 July 1994. Fragment G's 18 July impact gets its own note: an estimated 6 million megatons of TNT and a three-ring scar reaching about 12,000 km across.
- A comet fragment train approaching Jupiter and striking it one impact at a time, in the real July 1994 order
- Play or Pause animates the full 1992-1994 timeline; the progress slider jumps to any of the 13 milestones directly
- Fragment G's real three-ring scar (2,500 km central spot, 7,500 km thin ring, 12,000 km outer-ring inner edge) drawn to Jupiter's true relative scale
- An Earth-size overlay toggle for a direct side-by-side scale comparison against Fragment G's scar
- Click Jupiter, any incoming fragment, or any scar marker to refresh the facts panel with that milestone's real published figures
- Runs fully in the browser with the vendored three.js engine - no account, no upload
Students use it to see how a comet can be torn apart by a planet's gravity long before it ever collides; teachers point to the "string of pearls" impact chain when explaining tidal disruption and the Roche limit; and readers who remember the summer of 1994 scrub straight to Fragment G to see why its scar briefly outshone Jupiter's own Great Red Spot.
| Quantity | Published value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Night of 1993-03-24, Palomar Observatory (Carolyn Shoemaker, Eugene Shoemaker, David Levy) | NASA/JPL Solar System Exploration |
| Tidal breakup | 1992-07-07, passing about 40,000 km above Jupiter's cloud tops - inside the Roche limit; broke into at least 21 named fragments (A-W, I and O skipped) | NASA/JPL Solar System Exploration |
| Impact velocity | About 60 km/s (216,000 km/h) | NASA/JPL, EarthSky 30th-anniversary summary |
| Fragment A (first impact) | 1994-07-16, about 20:11 UTC | JPL "Predicted Impact Parameters for Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9" |
| Fragment G (largest impact) | 1994-07-18, about 07:30 UTC; energy about 6 million megatons TNT; scar: 2,500 km central spot, 7,500 km thin ring, 12,000 km outer-ring inner edge (about Earth's diameter) | NASA/JPL; Hubble Space Telescope (NASA/Goddard) impact-site imagery |
| Fragment W (final impact) | 1994-07-22, about 08:05 UTC - imaged directly by the Galileo spacecraft, then en route to Jupiter | JPL predicted-impact table; NASA Galileo mission imagery |
| Jupiter equatorial radius (scale reference) | 71,492 km | NASA/JPL Jupiter fact sheet |
Everything renders on your device with WebGL. The 3D engine loads once (about 0.7 MB) and is cached; no scene data is sent to a server.
The scene is an educational approximation of the 1992-1994 Shoemaker-Levy 9 story, not a physics simulation or an ephemeris. The fragment train's incoming path, its spacing, and the scars' longitude spread on Jupiter are compressed and schematic for legibility - only Fragment G's scar is drawn to Jupiter's real relative scale, and the table above holds the real published dates, times, and figures.
For a step-by-step walkthrough, read the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Jupiter Impact 3D Explorer how-to guide. The Space 3D collection also includes a Roche Limit explorer for the tidal-breakup threshold behind this event and a DART Asteroid Deflection explorer for another real, directly observed spacecraft-scale impact.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Jupiter Impact 3D Explorer show?
A fragment train approaching Jupiter and striking it one impact at a time, replaying the real 1992 tidal breakup and the 1994 impact week. Scrub the progress slider or press Play to move through the timeline, and the panel lists the published dates, times, and figures for each milestone.
Why did the comet break into pieces before it ever hit Jupiter?
On 7 July 1992 the comet passed about 40,000 km above Jupiter's cloud tops - inside Jupiter's Roche limit, the distance at which a planet's tidal pull overcomes a loosely bound body's own gravity. Jupiter's tides tore the nucleus into at least 21 named fragments, stretched into a "string of pearls" that struck the planet two years later.
How big was Fragment G's impact?
Fragment G struck on 18 July 1994 at about 07:30 UTC, releasing energy estimated at about 6 million megatons of TNT - roughly 600 times the world's nuclear arsenals. It left a three-part dark scar: a 2,500 km central spot inside a 7,500 km thin ring, inside a thick outer ring whose inner edge spans about 12,000 km, comparable to Earth's diameter.
How many fragments hit Jupiter, and did anyone see it happen?
At least 21 named fragments (A through W, skipping I and O) struck Jupiter's southern hemisphere between 16 and 22 July 1994 at about 60 km/s. Earth-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope watched the dark scars form, and NASA's Galileo spacecraft - then still en route to Jupiter - directly imaged the light flash from the final impact, Fragment W, on 22 July.
Why does this page have an Earth-size overlay button?
Fragment G's scar is one of the few Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact features with a specific published size. Pressing "Show Earth-size overlay" draws a circle matching Earth's real diameter beside Jupiter so you can compare it directly against the scar, which is drawn to Jupiter's true relative scale.
Is this a real-time tracker or a physics simulation?
No. The fragment train's incoming path, its spacing, and the scars' longitude spread on Jupiter are compressed and schematic for legibility - this is not a physics simulation or an ephemeris of the real 1992-1994 trajectory. The dates, times, and figures in the facts panel and the table on the main page are the real published NASA/JPL and Hubble Space Telescope values.