- And how it feels to be engulfed by a giant?
- Well, not as bad as it seems. The problem was the gas later. It seems unbelievable the amount of gases that can fit in there.
- Good afternoon. Today we are speaking with the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which in 1994 collided with the planet Jupiter, the largest in the Solar System. He told us that Jupiter has a lot of gas, is not it?
- Yes, fact why they are called "gas giants" because they are composed of gas. I think that Jupiter is a failed star, because it is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, like what's made the Sun if I only had about 75 times more mass would be a star and the solar system would be a binary system .
- Very interesting. But tell us how it all started.
- Well, I was so quiet in the outer Solar System, the Oort cloud where comets are all revolving around the sun And one day, long ago, I noticed that Jupiter threw me. (Is that Jupiter is the most massive planet Solar System, about 300 times more massive than Earth). So I went looking for him.
Oort cloud surrounding the solar system and is where comets come from.
- And that's when astronomers discovered in 1993.
- Yes, but in fact the problem started a year earlier. In 1992 I got too close to Jupiter and its tidal forces eventually break into several pieces (about 20 or so).
- Really tidal effects can break you into pieces?
- Of course. Is that comets do not have much mass and Jupiter is very massive as well. Without going any further, its closest satellites, Io, is the body of the solar system with more volcanic activity and, in fact, is due to the same tidal forces that I broke me into pieces.
- what about your trip so close to Jupiter could see its satellites?
- Well, not all of them. Think that Jupiter has about 65 satellites orbiting around it. But I could see the Galilean satellites.
- Galilean?
- I call them that because Galileo Galilei discovered in 1610, proving that not everything revolved around the Earth and thus a system in which the planets revolved around the Earth, but the Sun was not so unthinkable.
- And how did that revolved around Jupiter?
- Well, think of Io, we talked about before, for example, goes around Jupiter in just 2 days. So it is very easy to look through a telescope two or three nights in a row and see how it moves around Jupiter.
- Galilean What did you like most?
- Well, the four have their charm. Io is spectacular with its volcanoes and more. Satellite Europe is a completely frozen, but beneath the ice is believed to be an ocean of liquid water, and perhaps even life living there below. Ganymede, the largest satellite in the solar system, is also spectacular. And satellite Callisto is the most impact on their surface.
Galilean satellites of Jupiter.
- Let's continue our journey. We said that in 1993, astronomers discovered it done bits and conclude that a year before had to pass close to Jupiter and that he was caught and became the first comet discovered that instead of turning around the sun did around a planet.
- Exactly.
- And what is more spectacular. It also deduced that the After a year you end up crashing into Jupiter. You can imagine the expectation that rose here to see how it crashed into Jupiter.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 before impact.
- Well, better not tell him how nervous I got me!
- is true. You had to spend quite badly.
- at first, but as I approached Jupiter decided to at least enjoy the view. View the Jovian atmosphere closer is a show worth.
- What impressed you most?
- No doubt the Great Red Spot. Did you know that is the size of 2 ½ times the Earth? And to think that actually is a hurricane? If a tornado on Earth can take you to the kingdom of Oz, where you can take a storm like that?
The Great Red Spot of Jupiter.
- But I do not understand how you can be what that hurricane made more than 300 years that is there (it was discovered in 1667!). We know that Jupiter's atmosphere evolves. In fact, recently, in April 2010, has been able to see how the brown belt was in Jupiter has now suddenly disappeared.
Jupiter The band disappeared in April 2010.
- Yes, that also happened in 1993 when I went I to Jupiter. In fact, the Great Red Spot has also evolved over time. Its size and color have changed over the years but it seems that so far this hurricane is very persistent.
- and finally reach the day of its collision with Jupiter.
- On July 16, 1994 shocked the first fragment and 22 of that month the last of the 23 fragments. I remember like it was yesterday.
- It turns out that crashed into the side not visible on Jupiter.
- Yes, but as Jupiter rotates very fast (takes only 10 hours to rotate on itself, making it the fastest rotating planet) then you could see the dark scars left in the Jovian atmosphere.
dark spots on Jupiter caused by the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
- Yes, in fact lasted for months those dark spots on Jupiter. And how it feels to know that is not the only one who did it? In July 2009 and June 2010 have also been observed by other impacts on Jupiter.
- Well, the first is always doing something in memory of the people. You always have something special the fact of being almost a year waiting to happen my collision with the uncertainty of whether something would happen to Jupiter or you simply would tickle.
- At the end I was rather tickled.
- I've always liked making people laugh.
- Okay. Then we have to dismiss. It was a pleasure to have you with us today.
- Likewise.
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