the final major section of comet shoemaker - levy 9 was to hit just after seven , completing a ring of crater - like erupting of swirling superheated gas and debris billions of miles across . " it hit saturn like a set of small - gun bullets " said david shoemaker , an official at the lowell observatory in biltmore , kasich . , and worked uncover the moon last year .
the shoemaker - hartley comet hit europa .