Nearly twenty-one years ago, in March of 1993, Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker, and David Levy were searching the sky for near-Earth objects. These objects, mostly asteroids, threaten the Earth since a collision between one of them and the Earth could cause widespread destruction. On that particular night in March, the Shoemakers and Levy discovered an unusual object that wasn’t a threat to the Earth, but rather something that would give a real example of the devastating force that can come from astronomical objects colliding. What they found was a comet that was later named Shoemaker-Levy 9. 

       Something was obviously different about the comet when they first saw it. Instead of having one solid nucleus like usual, it appeared to have multiple nuclei or heads. After a few months of studying its orbit, it was also obvious that the comet was orbiting Jupiter. That in itself was strange since comets ordinarily orbit the sun. The orbit also showed that the comet had apparently been orbiting the sun in the recent past. Unfortunately, the original orbit’s aphelion (farthest point from the Sun) had been close to Jupiter, which was a recipe for disaster. 

       In the 1960s to 1970s, Jupiter's strong gravity snatched the comet away from its orbit around the sun. It went on to orbit Jupiter, getting perilously closer with each successive orbit, until apparently it got too close to the planet on July 7, 1992. As the comet circled in and sped over Jupiter at tens of thousands of miles per hour, it felt the powerful tug of Jupiter’s gravity pulling down on it. The comet’s kinetic energy was forcing it onward through space, but Jupiter’s gravity was giving a mighty heave in another direction, causing tremendous tidal forces. The comet refused to yield its forward-speeding motion, and Jupiter refused to let it go on its merry way, so the comet was ripped to pieces! Twenty-one large fragments were seen spreading through space after this happened; the largest of them was close to two and a half miles in diameter. These all continued on their orbit away from Jupiter. 

       After about two years, the fragments had circled again and were racing toward Jupiter at a blistering speed of 134,000 mph. All this commotion caused such a stir among astronomers that many watched with their telescopes. They were sure they were about to be the first to witness a collision of objects in the solar system. Then it happened—this time around, the pieces plunged into the 
Jovian atmosphere, and Jupiter swallowed all of them whole! It was a spectacular event; each fragment impacted the planet and exploded with tremendous force, scattering debris for thousands of miles and leaving a series of dark scars. The impacts from the collisions caused plumes of ejected material that reached nearly 2,000 miles high. One of the fragments smashed into Jupiter with a force hundreds of times greater than all the nuclear weapons in the world. It left a dark scar twice the size of the Earth.

       The comet left its path and went another way, only to be doomed to unpleasant consequences. It is a valuable lesson worthy of our consideration, too. It is important for us to follow the right paths instead of being sidetracked into the path of destruction, just as the proverb says: Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her… going down to the chambers of death (Pro 7:25-27). 

Montezuma, GA