The Great Comet Crash: The Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter

Spencer, John R. & Jacqueline Mitton (editors)

ISBN 10: 0521482747 / ISBN 13: 9780521482745

Published by Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1995

About this Item

Original black boards, silver lettered spine, dust jacket, illustrated with numerous colour and b/w photographs, 4to.

Seller Inventory # 364600-KG15

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Great Comet Crash: The Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter
• Publisher: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521482747
• ISBN 13: 9780521482745
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

The drama of the crash of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter is captured in words and photographs from the scientists who witnessed this unique event. With interpretations from top researchers and the best photographs from observatories around the world, this is a complete record of the greatest crash ever seen in the Solar System. See Worldwide Web http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/Comet/Comettop.html

Reviews

We've already heard about the discovery and spectacular demise of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 from David Levy himself in Impact Jupiter ; now we get the story from a multiplicity of perspectives, including that of Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker. The Shoemakers and the eight other astronomers featured in this large-format, generously illustrated volume chronicle the discovery of the comet; the careful tracking of its relentless, kamikaze trajectory toward Jupiter; the crash of each fragment of this so-called String of Pearls comet; and the effect these tremendous collisions had on the giant red planet. The crash of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was an unprecedented event, both in terms of the uniqueness of the comet itself and in our ability to transmit images of its swan song to millions of TV viewers and computer users. In the final chapters of this informative overview, astronomers H. Jay Melosh and Clark R. Chapman assess the unanswered questions left in the wake of this celestial event and try to imagine what would happen if such a comet struck the earth. Donna Seaman