Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a comet. It broke apart and crashed into Jupiter, in July 1994. The event was special because people could see, for the first time, how objects in the Solar System, outside Earth, collided. It caused a large amount of coverage in the media. The comet was carefully watched by astronomers worldwide. The crash gave new information about Jupiter. It also showed up its role in reducing space debris in the inner Solar System. The name came out of the discovers' last names.