Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 Impact 

Ron Miller

Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 Impact from lo 1994
Original oil painting; gift of the artist to George Coyne.

Gift of the artist during the first INSAP (Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena) hosted by the Vatican Observatory from 27 June to 2 July, 1994. The view shows the artist’s conception of a flash of light on Jupiter due to the impact of a fragment of Comet Shoemaker Levy 9, as seen from Jupiter’s moon Io. The actual impacts themselves did not occur until 16-22 July; they occurred on the far side of Jupiter as seen from Earth and thus not detectable directly from Earth.

On the back is the handwritten inscription, “to Father Coyne and the Specola Vaticana with the warmest regards and fondest memories, Ron Miller”