... Jupiter Swallows Comet Shoemaker Levy 9 . ... What happens when a comet encounters a planet? ... A giant planet like Jupiter, however, is mostly gas. When Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 struck Jupiter in 1994, each piece was swallowed into the vast Jovian atmosphere. ... The image is dramatic and stark. ... This haunting image from the orbiting Chandra Observatory reveals the Perseus Cluster of Galaxies in x-rays, photons with a thousand or more times the energy of visible light. ...