the sixth major part of comet shoemaker - henri 9 was to hit just after five , completing a ring of crater - like plumes of drifting superheated fluid and debris millions of miles across . " it strike juno like a band of machine - artillery bullets " spoke david shoemaker , an astronomer at the nasa observatory in scottsdale , cornyn . , who help discover the comet last september .
The Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter.