Editing Jupiter (section)

=== Impacts ===
{{Main|Impact events on Jupiter}}
[[File:Jupiter showing SL9 impact sites.jpg|thumb|Brown spots mark [[Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9]]'s impact sites on Jupiter]]
Jupiter has been called the Solar System's [[Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9#Jupiter's role in protection of the inner Solar System|vacuum cleaner]]<ref>{{cite news | title=Caught in the act: Fireballs light up Jupiter | work=ScienceDaily | date=September 10, 2010 | url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100909212309.htm | access-date=April 26, 2022 | archive-date=April 27, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220427013242/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100909212309.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> because of its immense [[gravity well]] and location near the inner Solar System. There are more [[List of Jupiter events|impacts on Jupiter]], such as comets, than on any other planet in the Solar System.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Nakamura | first1=T. | last2=Kurahashi | first2=H. | title=Collisional Probability of Periodic Comets with the Terrestrial Planets: An Invalid Case of Analytic Formulation | journal=Astronomical Journal | year=1998 | volume=115 | issue=2 | pages=848–854 | doi=10.1086/300206 | bibcode=1998AJ....115..848N | doi-access=free }}</ref> For example, Jupiter experiences about 200 times more [[asteroid]] and [[comet]] impacts than Earth.<ref name="HTUW"/> Scientists used to believe that Jupiter partially shielded the inner system from cometary bombardment.<ref name="HTUW"/> However, computer simulations in 2008 suggest that Jupiter does not cause a net decrease in the number of comets that pass through the inner Solar System, as its gravity perturbs their orbits inward roughly as often as it [[Accretion (astrophysics)|accretes]] or ejects them.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Horner | first1=J. | last2=Jones | first2=B. W. | year=2008 | title=Jupiter – friend or foe? I: the asteroids. | journal=International Journal of Astrobiology | volume=7 | issue=3–4 | pages=251–261 | doi=10.1017/S1473550408004187 | arxiv=0806.2795 | bibcode=2008IJAsB...7..251H| s2cid=8870726 }}</ref> This topic remains controversial among scientists, as some think it draws comets towards Earth from the [[Kuiper belt]], while others believe that Jupiter protects Earth from the [[Oort cloud]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Dennis |last=Overbye |author-link=Dennis Overbye |date=July 25, 2009 |title=Jupiter: Our Cosmic Protector? |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=July 27, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/weekinreview/26overbye.html |archive-date=April 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424054444/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/weekinreview/26overbye.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In July 1994, the [[Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9]] comet collided with Jupiter.<ref>{{Cite web|title=In Depth {{!}} P/Shoemaker-Levy 9|url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/p-shoemaker-levy-9/in-depth|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=NASA Solar System Exploration|date=December 9, 2017 |archive-date=February 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202124627/https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/p-shoemaker-levy-9/in-depth/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Howell|first=Elizabeth|date=January 24, 2018|title=Shoemaker-Levy 9: Comet's Impact Left Its Mark on Jupiter|url=https://www.space.com/19855-shoemaker-levy-9.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=Space.com|language=en|archive-date=December 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211206063559/https://www.space.com/19855-shoemaker-levy-9.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The impacts were closely observed by observatories around the world, including the [[Hubble Space Telescope]] and ''Galileo'' spacecraft.<ref>{{Cite web|last=information@eso.org|title=The Big Comet Crash of 1994 – Intensive Observational Campaign at ESO|url=https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso9402/|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=eso.org|language=en|archive-date=December 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211203094812/https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso9402/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Top 20 Comet Shoemaker-Levy Images|url=https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/top20.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=www2.jpl.nasa.gov|archive-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127142402/https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/top20.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title=Hubble Observations Shed New Light on Jupiter Collision | first1=Donald | last1=Savage | first2=Jim | last2=Elliott | first3=Ray | last3=Villard | url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/hst_obs.html | access-date=December 3, 2021 | date=December 30, 2004 | website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov | archive-date=November 12, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211112014938/https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/hst_obs.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The event was widely covered by the media.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NASA TV Coverage on Comet Shoemaker-Levy|url=https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/tv_nasa.html|access-date=December 3, 2021|website=www2.jpl.nasa.gov|archive-date=September 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908101213/https://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/tv_nasa.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Surveys of early astronomical records and drawings produced eight examples of potential impact observations between 1664 and 1839. However, a 1997 review determined that these observations had little or no possibility of being the results of impacts. Further investigation by this team revealed a dark surface feature discovered by astronomer [[Giovanni Domenico Cassini|Giovanni Cassini]] in 1690 may have been an impact scar.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=Tabe | first1=Isshi | last2=Watanabe | first2=Jun-ichi | last3=Jimbo | first3=Michiwo | date=February 1997 |title=Discovery of a Possible Impact SPOT on Jupiter Recorded in 1690 | journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan | volume=49 | pages=L1–L5 | bibcode=1997PASJ...49L...1T | doi=10.1093/pasj/49.1.l1 | doi-access=free }}</ref>