Can you help me fill in the blank for an Astronomy question?

Question

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was ripped apart as it approached Jupiter by ____.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Well, lack of cohesion had to have something to do with it lol. If a rigid enough object is subject to tidal force, it survives. (The moon, blv it or not, it solid, not a ring of rubble, despite the huge tidal gravitational forces it experiences from Earth!).

But in one word, gravity. In 3 words, gravitational tidal strain.

Answer 2

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9, formally designated D/1993 F2) was a comet which collided with Jupiter in 1994, providing the first direct observation of the collision of two solar system objects, not including collisions involving Earth and other objects. This generated a large amount of coverage in the popular media, and SL9 was closely observed by astronomers worldwide. The comet provided many revelations about Jupiter and its atmosphere and highlighted Jupiter's role in reducing space debris in the inner solar system.

The comet was discovered by astronomers Carolyn and Eugene M. Shoemaker and David Levy. Shoemaker-Levy 9 was located on the night of March 24, 1993, in a photograph taken with the 0.4-metre Schmidt telescope at the Mount Palomar Observatory in California. Unlike all other comets discovered before then, it was orbiting Jupiter rather than the Sun.

Answer 3

July16-22 1994. I collied in Jupiter

Answer 4

GRAVITY - probably on one of it's previous orbits around Jupiter.

If you want to play with the teacher's mind, you could get into a big discussion about Einstein's theories of relativity - especially the part about space and time being "warped" by the mass of objects within space.

Answer 5

Jupiter's gravity.

Answer 6

tidal force

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_force