the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet
Stato: Grenada and the Grenadines Anno: 2000 Notizie: Another sheet (Scott #2206) contains six se-tenant stamps. Each nominally depicts a spacecraft important in the history of meteoritical research. However, another sheet in the series (Scott #2205) attaches the same six satellite names to completely different illustrations. Sheet #2206 also shows the impact of a fragment of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994. The comet was discovered on March 24, 1993 by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and their colleague David Levy during a photographic observation session using the 0.4 meter Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. The comet had been disrupted by a close passage to Jupiter in 1992. Orbital calculations indicated the comet fragments would probably collide with Jupiter in July 1994. The whole world watched as twenty-one fragments struck Jupiter over a period of week beginning July 16, 1994. |
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