How Comets Work

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.

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

Jupiter planet image — **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.**
Photo courtesy NASA/JPL

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