This image shows the aftermath of the impacts of several of the
fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter.  The image was taken in
infrared light with a wavelength of 2.3 microns, which is strongly 
absorbed by methane in Jupiter's atmosphere.

The impact sites are the four bright spots at high southern latitudes,
not to be confused with the Great Red Spot which is visible closer to
the equator.  The site of impact A is just rotating into view on the
lower left: it is over 30 hours old but is still conspicuous.  To its
right is a very large, bright and complex double spot which we do not fully
understand yet: it is probably some combination of the fragment E
impact site, about 12 hours old, and the nearby site of the fragment F
impact, only two hours old.  On the right side of Jupiter, about to
rotate out of view, is the site of the fragment D impact, about 15
hours old.

The impact sites, and the other features visible in this image, are so
conspicuous because they include very high altitude clouds, perhaps
composed of material blasted up from the deep atmosphere by the
impacts: these reflect light before it can be absorbed by the methane
at lower altitudes.

Technical details: Image taken at 2:30 UT on July 18, 1994, with the
Ohio State Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (OSIRIS) at the 4-meter
telescope of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, by
John Spencer (Lowell Observatory), and Darren DePoy and Jay Frogel
(Ohio State University).
