File:Shoemaker-Levy 9 Fragment G Plume (39783109841).png

English: A three-frame sequence showing a plume rising up from the location where fragment G impacted the planet in 1994. The impact occurred just behind the planet, and then began rotating into view as it expanded and then collapsed. A shadow is cast upon the plume, obscuring its full shape. Later, the plume collapsed and flattened down, and an impact scar rotated into view.

The same 3 images—which were taken almost exactly 3 minutes apart—were used for each frame. Two of the images for each frame had to be warped to align the planet's features as it rotated in order to create a 3-color image for each frame in the sequence. Planetary science is so much faster than deep astronomy, so a lot can happen in three minutes, and it not as easy as it may look to get a sequence that appears coherent. I ended up using Photoshop's "puppet warp" to align all the cloud features, and I had to brighten or darken areas near the shadow to keep it in place as it would have appeared from Hubble.

I was a little kid of eleven years old when this happened, but I still remember it being exciting even then. It was no doubt a very emotional time for anxious astronomers awaiting those first images. I can hardly imagine it.

archive.stsci.edu/proposal_search.php?mission=hst&id=...

Red: WFPC2 F953N (u2fi0o04t_c0f) Green: WFPC2 F555W (u2fi0o05t_c0f)

Blue: WFPC2 F410M (u2fi0o06t_c0f)