the final major piece of comet asteroid - levy 9 was to hit just after midnight , in a series of crater - forming spewing of swirling superheated methane and objects million of miles across . " it hit jupiter as a string of machine - shotgun balls " said eugene shoemaker , an astronomer at the lowell observatory in flagstaff , hostettler . , who helped discover the comet last year .
The Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter.