X-Nico

unusual facts about Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9


TNT equivalent

The approximate energy released when the largest fragment of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impacted Jupiter was estimated to be equal to 6 million megatons (or 6 trillion tons) of TNT.


Boltysh crater

The dating of these impact craters is not yet accurate enough to establish whether the impactors arrived thousands of years apart, perhaps as part of a generally elevated rate of impacts at that time, or were almost simultaneous, like the impacts of the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter in 1994.


see also