the sixth major piece of comet shoemaker - comte 9 was to hit just after midnight , completing a ring of explosion - size plumes of swirled superheated steam and debris thousands of yards across . " it hit you like a ring of machine - rocket bullets " said henry pincay , an astronomer at the lowell observatory in flagstaff , kasich . , who helped discover the system last day .
The Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter.