Rice Professor Available for Comments on Comet-Jupiter Collision

Contact: Philip Montgomery
Phone: (713) 527-4672

Rice Professor Available for Comments on Comet-Jupiter Collision

Thomas Hill, a distinguished faculty fellow
in space physics and astronomy at Rice, is available to comment on
the impending collision between Jupiter and the remnants of the
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

The comet is expected to begin smashing into Jupiter on
Saturday, July 16. Astronomers have speculated that the comet, which
is moving at the speed of 130,000 miles per hour, could collide with
Jupiter with the force of a billion tons of TNT. The collision may
create plumes of hot gases that flash beyond the cloud cover of
Jupiter. Major astronomical instruments including the Hubble Space
Telescope, the powerful Keck Telescope in Hawaii and space probes
like Galileo will be focused on Jupiter.

Hill can be reached at his Rice office at (713) 527-4651 or his
home at (713) 665-5825.

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