Galileo PPR Detection of Fragment G Impact
The Photopolarimeter Radiometer team is pleased to report detection of the SL9 G impact. These data are just becoming available due to playback from the spacecraft tape recorder. The G event was observed in a scanning pattern optimized for the two Galileo slit spectrometers UVS and NIMS; the PPR, having a single circular field of view about 4 times the size of Jupiter, obtained Jupiter data once every 5.3 sec. This observation was done in the same 945 nm filter used for the earlier-reported detection of impacts H, L, and Q1.
The general character of the G impact signature is very similar to that seen from H and L: the signal rises fast, remains level for about 10 sec, and then decays over a total period of about 30 sec. The maximum amplitude is 2.2 E-15 watt/cm2/nm, which is 80% the size of L, the largest event seen before. The first indication of impact occurred at day 199, 07:33:32 UTC in the earthbased observers' time system.
Terry Z. Martin, Leslie K. Tamppari, and I. Claypool JPL L. Travis, A. Lacis, and J. Hansen GISS, New York