SL9 Impact A
From the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO)
(15 minute sequence of a fireball -- lower left limb -- from fragment A.)
These 30 second exposure (each) infrared images were taken in the K-band (2.2 micron) from the SAAO .75 m telescope at Sutherland at 1 minute intervals. The earliest faint signs of the fireball start in the first image (top left), and at its brightest, is as bright as the moon Io (to the right of Jupiter). The impact produced a flare which rapidly increased in brightness and decayed slowly. This flare is probably from a plume of material which became visible above the limb of Jupiter. Photo Credit Dr. Kaz Sekigushi and SAAO.
The plume from A was found by spectroscopy to consist of minerals, the cloud of dust from the shattered comet nucleus (and not of methane, ammonia, or water from Jupiter).
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