On penetration depth of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments into the Jovian atmosphere

✍ Scribed by Zhong-Wei Hu; Yi Chu; Kai-Jun Zhang

• Book ID: 104625733
• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 454 KB
• Volume: 73
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1573-0794
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00114146

✦ Synopsis

The actual penetration depth of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 fragments into the Jovian atmosphere is still an open question. From fundamental equations of meteoric physics with variable cross-section, a new analytic model of energy release of the fragments is presented. In use of reasonable parameters, a series of results are calculated for different initial mass of the fragments. The results show that the largest fragment explodes above pressure levels of 3 bars and does not penetrate into the Hz0 cloud layer of the Jovian atmosphere, and that airburst of smaller fragments occur even above the upper cloud layer.