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Waves from the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2016

Andrew P. Ingersoll  and
Hiroo Kanamori
Andrew P. Ingersoll
Affiliation:
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Hiroo Kanamori
Affiliation:
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA

Abstract

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Images of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) reveal two concentric circular rings surrounding five of the impact sites from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9). The rings are visible 1.0 to 2.5 hours after the impacts. The outer ring expands at a constant rate of 450 ms-1 . The inner ring expands at about half that speed. The rings appear to be waves. Other features (diffuse rings and crescent) further out appear to be debris thrown out by the impact. Sound waves (p-modes), internal gravity waves (g-modes), surface gravity waves (f-modes), and rotational waves (r-modes) all are excited by the impacts. Most of these waves do not match the slow speed, relatively large amplitude, and narrow width of the observed rings. Ingersoll and Kanamori have argued that internal gravity waves trapped in a stable layer within the putative water cloud are the only waves that can match the observations. If they are correct, and if moist convection in the water cloud is producing the stable layer, then the O/H ratio on Jupiter is roughly ten times that on the Sun.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 156: The Collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter , May 1996 , pp. 329 - 345
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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