the tenth magnitude part of cyclone shoemaker - csi 9 was to hit just after sunrise , completed a circle of crater - size fireballs of vortex superheated gas and debris thousands of kilometres across . " it hit jupiter like a string of machine - gun bullets " thought eugene comet , an observer at the lowell observatory in biltmore , ariz . , who helped discover the comet last year .
The Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter.