COMET SHOEMAKER-LEVY 9 APPROACHES JUPITER This is a composite of two CCD images of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 which were obtained on July 1, 1994, with the Danish 1.5-m telescope at the ESO La Silla observatory. It shows most of the individual fragments of the doomed comet (A to S), just two weeks before the first impact happens. At the time of the exposure, the comet was about 11 million kilometres from the planet, and the rate of motion was gradually accelerating because of the increasing gravitational pull from Jupiter. The fragment that will reach Jupiter first (A; on July 16, at about 19:30 Universal Time) is seen at the upper left, very close to the left border of the photo. The dust from the fragments is all on the Northern side of the train. Technical information: Red filter; composite of two 15-min exposures; mediocre seeing (1.2 arcseconds); reasonably well flat-fielded despite strong presence of straylight from Jupiter (situated outside the frame, towards the upper left). North is up and East is to the left. This is ESO PR Photo SL9J/94-01 which accompanies the ESO SL-9/Jupiter Information Package. It may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory. THE ESO LA SILLA OBSERVATORY This is an aerial view of the ESO La Silla observatory in the Chilean Atacama desert, from where the collision between comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and giant planet Jupiter will be intensively observed with many telescopes. The photo shows the high mountains of the Andean Cordillera in the background. The double dome at the summit (2400 metres above sea level) houses the 3.6-metre and 1.4-metre CAT (Coude Auxiliary Telescope) telescopes. On the shoulder to the left is the 15-metre SEST (Swedish ESO Submillimetre Telescope). Further down the mountain follow the unusual, octogonal dome of the 3.5-metre NTT (New Technology Telescope), the electronic and mechanical workshop building, and the domes for the 1-metre Schmidt telescope, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft/ESO 2.2-metre telescope, the Danish 1.54-metre telescope, the double 40-cm astrograph (GPO), the 1-metre photometrical telescope, the 1.52-metre spectrograhic telescope, the 90-cm Dutch telescope and four smaller instruments. The largest building in the foreground is the "Hotel" with guest rooms and cafeteria; to the left are the dormitories for visiting astronomers and the permanent staff. The long building further down the mountain houses, among others, the administrative offices, the astronomical library and extensive computer facilities. La Silla is connected to the outer world by means of the Chilean microwave link of which an antenna tower is seen to the right. Other facilities, including the storehouse, are outside the picture. This is ESO PR Photo SL9J/94-02 which accompanies the ESO SL-9/Jupiter Information Package. It may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory. TIMMI: OBSERVING THE COMET CRASH IN THE FAR-INFRARED This is the ESO-built, advanced astronomical instrument TIMMI (Thermal Infrared Multi-Mode Instrument), mounted at the Cassegrain focus of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope from where it will observe the collision between comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter. TIMMI is able to obtain direct images as well as spectra in the far-infrared wavebands (up to wavelength 20 micrometer). By observing Jupiter at these wavelengths, it will be possible to follow phenomena in the stratosphere, and hopefully to detect molecules from deeper layers which have been ejected upwards in the atmosphere. TIMMI will also be used to observe the possible seismic phenomena by measuring small temperature differences. This is ESO PR Photo SL9J/94-03 which accompanies the ESO SL-9/Jupiter Information Package. It may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory. MUNICH-BUILT INSTRUMENT TO OBSERVE THE COMET COLLISION Astronomers from the Munich Astronomical Observatory will observe the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9/Jupiter collision from the ESO La Silla observatory with a highly specialized instrument, built at their institute in Munich. The "Munich multi-channel high-speed photometer" will be attached to the ESO 1-metre telescope and will monitor the light from several Jupiter moons at once. It is expected that it will be possible to register the light flashes from the impacts of the comet fragments, reflected from the surfaces of the moons. On the photo, this complex instrument is seen in mid-June 1994, towards the end of a four-month preparatory test phase at the photometric telescope of the Munich Astronomical Observatory on the top of Mount Wendelstein, some 50 km south-east of Munich. A few days later, it was shipped to the La Silla observatory in Chile. >From left to right: Otto Barnbantner and Heinz Barwig (who will make the observations at La Silla), Klaus Diefenbeck and Hans Eiler. This is ESO PR Photo SL9J/94-04 which accompanies the ESO SL-9/Jupiter Information Package. It may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory and the Universitats-Sternwarte Muenchen. THE SPACE TELESCOPE/EUROPEAN COORDINATING FACILITY: READY FOR THE CRASH Members of the Space Telescope - European Coordinating Facility examine an image of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. From left to right the individuals are Michael Rosa (German), Richard Hook (British, at the keyboard), Bo Rasmussen (Danish), Adeline Caulet (French) and Wolfram Freudling (German). This is ESO PR Photo SL9J/94-05 which accompanies the ESO SL-9/Jupiter Information Package. It may be reproduced, if credit is given to the European Southern Observatory.