Comets Can Break Apart

As comets pass through the inner solar system, they can be broken into pieces by Jupiter's gravity. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was broken into 20 pieces, each of which collided with Jupiter in one of the most spectacular examples of interplanetary impacts in recorded history.

Photo courtesy NASA/Space Telescope Science Institute Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was broken into 20 pieces by Jupiter's gravity.

Photo courtesy NASA/JPL Artist's rendering of the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Jupiter

Photo courtesy NASA/JPL Here is a Hubble Space Telescope image of Jupiter after pieces of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit the planet. The dark spots are the impact sites.

Recently, comet LINEAR was also broken into fragments by the sun's gravity as it passed the sun.