Huge Impact Explosion On Jupiter

Amateur Astronomer Photograph Asteroid Impact On Jupiter!

An Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley captured an extremely rare event on camera yesterday. Something BIG smashed into Jupiter creating a huge ocean sized spot in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

To make things even more weird. This impact happened almost exactly 15 years to the day after the famous Shoemaker Levy 9 comets impacts (see video below) which blew huge hole in Jupiters atmosphere and created explosions larger than Earth!

If the impactor that struck Jupiter had impacted Earth instead, it would produce what scientists call and extinction event. Viewing the photo of this impact on Jupiter you can imagine the size covering the United States and then some. That’s how big this explosion is.

An impact of this size is most likely sufficient to destroy a large portion if not all life on Earth.

View Anthony Wesley’s Site & The Now Famous Images:
Photo Of Anthony Wesley & His Scope

New Detailed Images From The Keck Observatory In Hawaii

Earth Jupiter Impact Size Comparison – PHOTO #1
Closeup Of Impact Scar On Jupiter – PHOTO #2

NASA JPL Website Reports:

This image was taken at 1.65 microns, a wavelength sensitive to sunlight reflected from high in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and it shows both the bright center of the scar (bottom left) and the debris to its northwest (upper left).

“It could be the impact of a comet, but we don’t know for sure yet,” said Orton. “It’s been a whirlwind of a day, and this on the anniversary of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Apollo anniversaries is amazing.”

Shoemaker-Levy 9 was a comet that had been seen to break into many pieces before the pieces hit Jupiter in 1994.

Leigh Fletcher, a NASA postdoctoral fellow at JPL who worked with Orton during these latest observations said, “Given the rarity of these events, it’s extremely exciting to be involved in these observations. These are the most exciting observations I’ve seen in my five years of observing the outer planets!”

BBC NEWS RECORDED INTERVIEW WITH AMATEUR ASTRONOMER

Recorded Interview with Astronomer BBC News:

Jupiter ‘hit by large object’
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An amateur astronomer in Australia has discovered that the planet Jupiter was struck recently by an object up to two kilometres in diameter.

Anthony Wesley noticed what he described as a black scar near the south pole of the planet last Thursday.

He reported his observations to Nasa’s jet propulsion laboratory in California, where astronomers were able to determine that it was caused by an impact, possibly a stray comet or a block of ice.

Nasa officials say the dent created in Jupiter is about the size of Earth.

First broadcast 22 July 2009

via BBC World Service – News – Jupiter ‘hit by large object’.

Science Daily Report Excerpt:

Following up on a tip by an amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley of Australia, that a new dark “scar” had suddenly appeared on Jupiter, this morning between 3 and 9 a.m. PDT (6 a.m. and noon EDT) scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii, gathered evidence indicating an impact.

New infrared images show the likely impact point was near the south polar region, with a visibly dark “scar” and bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths, and a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.

“We were extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of Jupiter to witness the event. We couldn’t have planned it better,” said Glenn Orton, a scientist at JPL.

SOURCE: ScienceDaily.com

Impact Of Shoemaker Levy 9 Comet in 1994 – Video

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