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Fragmentation of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Nuclei During Flight Through the Jovian Atmosphere

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2018

Z. Sekanina
Z. Sekanina*
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109

Abstract

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Fragmentation dominates the ablation process of cometary type impactors during their atmospheric flight. Models that account for it imply that a kilometer-sized nuclear fragment of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 has disintegrated almost completely by the time of its terminal explosion, at a pressure level of <1 bar. This result, consistent with impact scenarios based on precursor-event timings, suggests that the initial masses of two fragments, K and R, were between 7×1014 and 5×1015grams apiece.

Type
X. Cometary Dust
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 150: Physics, Chemistry and Dynamics of Interplanetary Dust , 1996 , pp. 383 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 1996

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