The search for historical impact sites on Jupiter

A search was made through historical reports of major dark spots on Jupiter, recorded during the prephotographic era. While many of these reports meet the sufficient condition for impact candidacy (exogenic origin cannot be ruled out), the descriptions and drawings lack the detail required to meet the necessary condition (a morphology similar to that created by the Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacts). The lack of available information about specific historical spots on Jupiter is a consequence of the perceived physical nature of these spots at the time, and the traditional purpose of jovian spot observations.