the following major scrap of crater shoemaker - levy 9 was to burst just after seven , completing a circle of crater - form plumes of swirling condense gas and debris thousands of miles long . " it hit jupiter through a string of machine - gunner bullets " reported paul shoemaker , an astronomer at the lowell observations in flagstaff , flake . , who helped discover the object next winter .
The Shoemaker-Levy comet hit Jupiter.