IMPACT DEBRIS PARTICLES IN JUPITER STRATOSPHERE

The aftermath of the impacts of periodic comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jup iter was studied With the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 on the Hubble Space Telescope. The impact debris particles may owe their dark brown color to organic material rich in sulfur and nitrogen. The total volum e of aerosol 1 day after the last impact is equal to the volume of a s phere of radius 0.5 kilometer. In the optically thick core regions, th e particle mean radius is between 0.15 and 0.3 micrometer, and the aer osol is spread over many scale heights, from approximately 1 millibar to 200 millibars of pressure or more. Particle coagulation can account for the evolution of particle radius and total optical depth during t he month following the impacts.