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VIRTUALISATION Jupiter gets bonked by either a comet or asteroid
VIRTUALISATION Jupiter gets bonked by either a comet or asteroid | Jupiter gets bonked by either a comet or asteroid |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Tuesday, 21 July 2009 | |
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The impact point, what was described in the magazine Science as a “giant black smudge,” was found near the south pole of the planet Jupiter. [Science: “Jupiter's Been Hit!”] The Guardian.co.uk article “Amateur astronomer spots Earth-size scar on Jupiter” describes it as “… a hole the size of the Earth in the planet's atmosphere.” Two NASA astronomers took images of Jupiter, on Monday, July 20, 2009, with the NASA Infrared Telescope in Hawaii. The day before, these two astronomers—Leigh Fletcher, a JPL post-doctoral student, and JPL astronomer Glenn Orton—were contacted by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley about the blemish on Jupiter. In the same July 20, 2009 Science article, Fletcher states, "I never expected I'd get to see something like this.” The event is only the second time that an impact of Jupiter has been observed by astronomers. The first time was in 1994 when pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (or, SL9, formally called D/1993 F2) hit Jupiter. Australian computer programmer Anthony Wesley, the amateur astronomer who was the first to observe the impact site on Jupiter (on July 19, 2009), was using a 37-inch telescope in Murrumbaterman, Australia, which is located outside of Canberra. Page two continues. |
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