Rare images show a comet colliding with Jupiter

Impressive footage reveals a historic moment of a violent space collision recorded in 1994

A video that has started circulating on social media shows the moment an asteroid hits the planet Jupiter. What’s most impressive? The footage is real — and not a simulation.

The recording is from 1994, when the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet made the first observed impact between two bodies in the Solar System. The event was widely studied by astronomers around the world.

The comet, shattered by Jupiter’s intense gravity, split into 21 fragments, each up to 2 kilometers in diameter. These pieces collided with the planet between July 16 and 22 at a staggering speed of about 60 km per second.

The impact was colossal: the energy released was equivalent to 300 million atomic bombs, creating impact columns that reached up to 3,000 kilometers in height — a true spectacle of cosmic force.

Click here to watch the video

Source and images: Unilad / Creative Commons / YouTube. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.