Chemical and thermal response of jupiter's atmosphere following the impact of comet shoemaker–levy 9

ABSTRACT IN July 1994, the collisions of the fragments of comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with Jupiter resulted in dramatic changes in the planet's atmosphere. Observations of the events suggest

that the composition and thermal properties of the atmosphere were considerably modified at the impact sites, with the changes persisting for times lasting from minutes to weeks (see, for

example, refs 1–4). Here we report observations of the impact sites at millimetre wavelengths, which reveal strong emission lines associated with carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide and

carbon monosulphide. The abundance of carbon monoxide in the jovian atmosphere is normally very low5; carbonyl sulphide and carbon monosulphide, on the other hand, have not hitherto been

detected. We find that the largest fragments (G and K) each produced approximately 1014g of carbon monoxide, 3 x 1012g of carbonyl sulphide and 3 x 1011g of carbon monosulphide, most

probably by shock-induced chemical reactions6. Our observations also place firm constraints on the thermal response of Jupiter's stratosphere to the impacts. Access through your

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references AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, F-92195, Meudon, France E. Lellouch, B. Bézard, D. Bockelée-Morvan, P. Colom, J. Crovisier, T.

Encrenaz, D. Gautier & A. Marten * IRAM, Granada, Spain G. Paubert, R. Moreno & A. Sievers * Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, F-31400, Toulouse, France M. C. Festou * Observatoire de

Bordeaux, F-33270, Floirac, France D. Despois * The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA D. F. Strobel Authors * E. Lellouch View author publications You can also search

for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * G. Paubert View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * R. Moreno View author publications You can also

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can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * D. Bockelée-Morvan View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * P. Colom View author

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Marten View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * D. Despois View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

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Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Lellouch, E., Paubert, G., Moreno, R. _et al._ Chemical and thermal response of Jupiter's

atmosphere following the impact of comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. _Nature_ 373, 592–595 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/373592a0 Download citation * Received: 28 November 1994 * Accepted: 17

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