9322127 Cochran The impact of the pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter will probably release a large amount of energy into the Jovian atmosphere. Dr. William Cochran and colleagues have formed a Comet Science Team that will have the use of all of the facilities of the McDonald Observatory to gather data on this event. The Team will gather astrometric data and physical observations on the comet during the months prior to the impact event. The pre-impact state of the Jovian atmosphere will be characterized in detail. During the time of the impact, areas to be investigated include the fireball of heated gas rising from the entry site, the cooling and condensation in the upper atmosphere of the warm atmospheric and cometary material brought up from the deep atmosphere by the fireball, the dynamics of the atmospheric reaction to the impact event, the influence of the impact on the Jovian magnetosphere and auroral emissions, and the study of possible newly formed chemical species in the stratosphere.
