HST FAR-ULTRAVIOLET IMAGING OF JUPITER DURING THE IMPACTS OF COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY-9

Hubble Space Telescope far-ultraviolet images of Jupiter during the Sh oemaker-Levy 9 impacts show the impact regions darkening over the 2 to 3 hours after the impact, becoming darker and more extended than at l onger wavelengths, which indicates that ultraviolet-absorbing gases or aerosols are more extended, more absorbing, and at higher altitudes t han the absorbers of visible light, Transient auroral emissions were o bserved near the magnetic conjugate point of the K impact site just af ter that impact. The global auroral activity was fainter than average during the impacts, and a variable auroral emission feature was observ ed inside the southern auroral oval preceding the impacts of fragments Q1 and Q2.