the final big element of comet shoemaker - csi 9 was to burst just after midnight , within a circle of crater - like plumes of swirling superheated gas and material hundreds of miles through . " it hit jupiter by a hail of machine - rifle bullets " stated eugene palomar , an astronomers at the lowell museum in sedona , ariz . , also helps discovering the comet last night .
The Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter.