Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9

From Slackerpedia Galactica

Named after its three discovers, Eugene Shoemaker and his wife, Carolyn Spellman as well as the inimitable David Levy in 1993 and might have well been one of just many obscure comets had it not decided to pick on Jupiter, an innocent albeit gravitationally influential planet.

Falling apart into over 20 fragments (and thankfully not over 26 due to the alphabetical naming system for the fragments), they impacted Jupiter in the first observable event of its kind in modern astronomy. The impacts created an estimated 20 million megatons in atmospheric shock waves^ with a radius of 12,000 kilometers quite possibly dwarfing the entire atomic weapons arsenal of the Earth.

The event also helped to underscore the threat that Near Earth Objects and Killer Asteroids might pose to our own beautifully chaotic home.

^ Almost all shock waves on Jupiter are atmospheric given its very gassy state.

External Links

University of Arizona Information Page
NASA Website about Impacts
Wolfram Research Notes
Follow-up column by Space.com in 2004