Comet Crash

It’s happening tonight!  Virtually every telescope in the world is going
to be pointed toward Jupiter.  We’ve never seen this before.  This is
totally new ground.

John Holliman: “The comet is coming, and astronomers all over the world
are seeing good pictures of Shoemaker-Levy 9 as it bashes into the
atmosphere surrounding Jupiter.” 

Miles O’Brien: “Astronomers all over the world are getting a real eyeful
of information as Shoemaker-Levy 9 continues its fiery meeting with
Jupiter.  When the initial images came in it was time to break out the
champagne and celebrate a little bit.  There, the co-discovers of the
comet, Eugene and Caroline Shoemaker and David Levy.” 

Gene Shoemaker: “I think, we’re very, very privileged tonight to see an
event that’s not once in a life time—but once in a millennium.!” 

Michael Guillen: “First, let me remind everybody what all the commotion is
about.  There is a comet called Shoemaker-Levy ... it broke into all these
pieces which have been labeled A through W just for identification
purposes.” 

Peter Jennings: “News about outer space today.  The planet Jupiter
continuous to take a pounding... Scientists have been watching as closely
as they are able.” 

That large ring, that big smudge—you could easily fit the Earth inside
that diameter.   This is one, big, impact site.

Lucy McFadden: “I have one more thing I want to say.  The HST results were
spectacular.  I loved sitting here listening to it.  I was always amazed
at the news reports.  Once we can combine our efforts and combine our data,
we will know a lot more than we know already, and it’s going to be a lot
of fun.”