THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 15, 1994 TAG: 9407150600
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
The Cable News Network's coverage of satellite footage from the Hubble telescope may offer the best glimpse of a celestial show, when the first of 21 comet chunks are expected to slam into the planet Jupiter.
But those who want to try their luck at seeing the collision through a telescope may want to go to Tidewater Community College's Portsmouth campus.
Starting Saturday, pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 will crash into the cloud tops of Jupiter. CNN will carry the initial collisions live, starting about 4 p.m. Saturday.
According to the Space Telescope Science Institute, the collision's total energy release could equal ``100 million megatons of TNT, roughly 10,000 times the destructive power of the world's nuclear arsenal at the height of the Cold War.''
A megaton is a million tons of TNT, about 50 times the might of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.
Scientists are excited because this is the first time they've been able to predict and observe comets speeding into a planet. For the general public, though, the show may be a bust.
``It's really not something you'll be able to see,'' NASA spokesman Michael Finneran said. ``The Hubble will provide the best image. We may be able to see some of the comet impact when the planet rotates around, but we won't have Fourth-of-July-type fireworks.''
At TCC's Portsmouth campus, telescopes will be set up at the observatory at 8:30 p.m. Saturday through Wednesday. Astronomy club members will be on hand to answer questions.
Finneran said the comets will hit on the dark side of Jupiter. This, coupled with the fact that Jupiter is essentially a ball of gas with no solid surface, will make it difficult for the untrained eye to detect the comet's effects, he explained.
At TCC, the observatory will also be viewing the moon, in honor of the Apollo landing 25 years ago. NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton will also host an open house commemorating the anniversary on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. by CNB