EUROPEAN SL-9/JUPITER WORKSHOP, ESO, 13-15 February 1995 PROCEEDINGS Editors: Richard M. West and Hermann Boehnhardt Copyright: European Southern Observatory, March 1995 PREFACE ======= The present volume contains the proceedings of the "European SL-9/Jupiter Workshop", held on February 13-15, 1995, at the Headquarters of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching bei Muenchen, Bavaria, Germany. The meeting brought together more than 100 scientists from all continents for intensive information exchanges about the status of the current studies of the large data sets obtained in connection with the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter. The Workshop was conceived and organised by a Scientific Organising Committee (SOC) with the following members: H. Barwig, H. Boehnhardt, J. Crovisier, Th. Encrenaz, R. Schulz and R.M. West. The primary aim was to provide a useful forum for face-to-face discussions between the members of the various research groups now actively engaged in the associated programmes. The SL-9 event was unique and, as expected, many of these studies have since entered into largely uncharted areas while some profit from wide, interdisciplinary collaborations. The need for regular, personal contacts has been expressed from many sides and more meetings are planned as this work progresses, e.g., IAU Colloquium 156 in May 1995. A particular emphasis was therefore placed on discussions during this Workshop. Eighty-eight papers were presented orally or as posters. The SOC early recognised that most of these would be concerned with on-going research projects and would therefore have a somewhat provisional character; this was later confirmed. However, it was also clear from the outset that it would be most useful to publish a reasonably complete record of the current state of affairs, as represented by these papers, even if it would be superseded by later editions. In view of these special circumstances, it was obvious that the fastest possible publication schedule must be aimed at. We accordingly set the optimistic goal to have the printed volume available already two months after the conference, i.e. in mid-April 1995. For this reason, all speakers were asked to deliver camera-ready copies of their manuscripts before the end of February 1995. We are pleased to acknowledge the excellent co-operation by the authors and that no less than seventy-five papers were received before this very tight deadline; they are all contained in the present volume. A few of the others, in particular some of those dealing with observations from the HST, IUE, UKIRT and BAT 6-m facilities are being published elsewhere (e.g., the HST article in Science 267, 1288, March 1995) and we fully agree with the respective authors that it would not make sense to include very similar versions here. Please note that although we have attempted to check the manuscripts for consistency, no thorough refereeing and editing process was possible within the very short time available. In most cases, the papers therefore appear almost exactly as they were delivered to us. No volume describing the SL-9 event in such a width and depth has yet been published, nor is any other expected to become available within the next many months. The very short production time ensures that the papers are still of actual value. We therefore trust that these proceedings will be of use to all who work with the SL-9 data and to others who are interested in the current state of affairs. Taken together, these papers provide an excellent overview of the progress that has been made since last July. There is no doubt, however, that there is still a long way ahead before these investigations will finally come to a successful end. In order to facilitate further interaction among the participants and others, we have included the authors' telephone and fax numbers, as well as their email addresses in the list of participants at the end of this volume. Generous support to this Workshop was provided by the European Southern Observatory. This also included a number of conference grants to participants from Central and Eastern European countries, allocated within the ESO C&EE Programme. The numerous practical arrangements before and at this meeting were taken care of by Mrs. Elisabeth Voelk of the ESO Education and Public Relations Department in her well-known friendly and efficient way. During the three hectic days of the Workshop, she was ably assisted by Messrs. Tilmann Schaible and Hans-Hermann Heyer. The editorial process profited from valuable help by Mr. Kurt Kjaer. To all of them, we express our sincere thanks for their contribution to the success of this meeting. Richard West and Hermann Boehnhardt (editors) Muenchen, March 8, 1995