2010 Asteroid Impacts on Jupiter

[3488]

In what turns out to be a major coincidence, Anthony Wesley, an amateur astronomer in Australia, is reporting that he recorded another impact on Jupiter! This time he has video of the impact, which he claims was quite bright and lasted about two seconds. The v............

Breaking News, another Jupiter impact???

Video from the Philippines.

Andrew Brown.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

While there might be other possible explanations for the flash, they would be even more improbable than the odds of the same guy recording the image. Wow!!

 

[xXTheOneRavenXx]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Doesn't Jupiter also have lightning storms? I know if this were the case then more than one flash should have been seen. I was just thinking along the lines of one major build-up of energy managed to be x amount times brighter than the standard. Way too tired to really think right now, lol.

 

[a_lost_packet_]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Doesn't Jupiter also have lightning storms? I know if this were the case then more than one flash should have been seen. I was just thinking along the lines of one major build-up of energy managed to be x amount times brighter than the standard. Way too tired to really think right now, lol.

That would be... a very, very, very ginormous bit of lightning pyrotechnics, wouldn't it?

 

[3488]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Jupiter observed by HST. No impact scar & SEB is returning

On Monday 7th June 2010, the Hubble Space Telescope observed Jupiter & found no scar from the impact on Thursday 3rd June 2010.

Also the South Equatorial Belt is returning. It was obscured by high altitude Ammonia Cirrostratus at Jupiter's tropopause, which is starting to break.

Andrew Brown.

 

[bdewoody]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

What's going on> No recorded obsevations of a planetary impact up until Shoemaker Levy 9 and now they are popping up on a regular basis. Maybe a large object has disturbed the Kuiper belt and the inner solar system is about to get pounded by large rocks. We better get that asteroid zapper off the drawing boards soon.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

I think it's more that there are hundreds of amateurs with high quality scopes and CCD cameras monitoring everything 24/7.

In the past, the limited time on pro scopes meant that you had to have a target and a reason to get the observing time.
That meant that surprise events weren't caught as they happened. In fact, that's still the case.

But now there are many amateur folks with equipment that would have been the realm of big bux professional observatories a mere decade ago.

We have many more eyes on the sky than we ever have at any time in human history.

MW

 

[job1207]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Confirmed by Hubble, as noted on the first page of sdc.

My question is this. When these things occurred, I heard talking heads claim that Jupiter protects the inner solar system. I have heard it many times, and so I am thinking there is a body of literature on the subject.

I am wondering if someone has a link......?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... ets_2.html

I did the search. This says it is a net zero effect. There are other opinions.....I am wondering about more scientific links.

 

[Balthazar579]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Confirmed by Hubble, as noted on the first page of sdc.

My question is this. When these things occurred, I heard talking heads claim that Jupiter protects the inner solar system. I have heard it many times, and so I am thinking there is a body of literature on the subject.

I am wondering if someone has a link......?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... ets_2.html

I did the search. This says it is a net zero effect. There are other opinions.....I am wondering about more scientific links.

I don't have any useful links or anything, sorry, but I can confirm that for you. Though I think it's more often past tense; there's little to protect us from now. But basically, Jupiter goes around the sun, and due to it's immense size and gravity, it captures (sometimes to it's detriment) asteroids, comets, and other ne'er-do-wells that would love to come in for a shot at the inner solar system. Earth has a statistically lower chance of getting hit than the other planets, however, because we have a large moon that acts as a meat shield against most bodies that would still impact Earth, though it's capacity here is much less than the past. But really, that's it. Insofar as I knw, this isn't a major contributing factors to it's rings, though major impacts can destroy small moons, altering the structure a bit. We haven't seen this happen yet. We simply believe it happened in the past(as well as tidal forces from Jupiter ripping these nascent moons apart) based on what we see today. And i'm rambling. I do that.

 

[NebularNeblactics]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

I'd love to know what kind of tools he has :shock:

 

[Balthazar579]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Jupiter observed by HST. No impact scar & SEB is returning

On Monday 7th June 2010, the Hubble Space Telescope observed Jupiter & found no scar from the impact on Thursday 3rd June 2010.

Also the South Equatorial Belt is returning. It was obscured by high altitude Ammonia Cirrostratus at Jupiter's tropopause, which is starting to break.

Andrew Brown.

Just stare at that picture, and tell me it doesn't look like it's moving...natural optical illusion much?

 

[CalliArcale]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

It does. That's awesome. I've always loved Jupiter; it looks so painterly, so *alive*.

 

[3488]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Another possible Jupiter impact on: Friday 20th August 2010?

Andrew Brown.

 

[silylene]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

As I said before in another thread, the frequency of impacts is exactly why I don't think advanced life is possible on an earth-like moon of a Jovian circling some other star, even if is within a 'habitable zone'. It's unhealthy being at the bottom of a massive gravity well. This latest impact on Jupiter simply adds more credibility to my thoughts on this.

Pandora or Endor would never host intelligent lifeforms.

 

[3488]

Yet another Jupiter impact: Friday 20th August 2010?

Hi silylene,

Jupiter getting hit twice in almost as many months, yes certainly dangerous territory, due to the concentration effect. Future Jupiter craft should also look for fresh craters on the Galileans, even Io may get a temporary impact crater before volcanic activity erases it!!!!

Jupiter impact Friday 20th August 2010.

Here is a movie.

Impact was in the northern hemisphere this time, just north of the North Equatorial Belt. Apparently the impact was also observed from a second site 800 KM away, so this is real, not an artifact, etc.

The giant moon Ganymede is visible to the lower right of Jupiter.

Images from SpaceWeather.Com.

Andrew Brown.

 

[bdewoody]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

OK. Are Jovian impacts happening more often lately or are we just better at detecting them and paying more attention than before?

 

[nesp]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Any idea of the size of the asteroid? And what the effect would have been if it had impacted earth?

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

It does. That's awesome. I've always loved Jupiter; it looks so painterly, so *alive*.

Not really related to the op, but couldn't resist - one of my favourite Jupiter images :

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

NASA Story on Jupiter Impacts

""Jupiter is a big gravitational vacuum cleaner," says co-author and JPL astronomer Glenn Orton. "It is clear now that relatively small objects left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago still hit Jupiter frequently."

The impacts are bright enough to see through backyard telescopes on Earth. Indeed, amateur astronomers were the first to detect them, recording two fireballs in 2010 alone—one on June 3rd and another on August 20th. "

""It is interesting to note that while Earth gets smacked by a 10-meter-sized object about every 10 years on average, it looks as though Jupiter gets hit with the same-sized object [as much as] a few times each month," comments Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Program Office at JPL, who was not directly involved in the study.

Learning how often Jupiter is hit can tell astronomers something about the meteoroid population throughout the solar system—a matter of considerable interest right here on Earth. Just yesterday on Sept. 8th, a 10-meter class asteroid named 2010 RF12 flew past our planet without hitting. A somewhat smaller space rock, 2008 TC3, actually burned up in the atmosphere above Sudan two years ago.

"The Jupiter impact rate is still being refined," adds Yeomans, "and studies like this one help to do just that."

To learn more about the original research, read "First Earth-based Detection of a Superbolide on Jupiter" by R. Hueso et al, in the Ap J Letters, 2010, 721, L129"

 

[neilsox]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

What is a TCD? If I recall correctly, Shoemaker-Levy 9 was one of the largest comets to enter the inner solar system in the past two or three centuries. It missed Jupiter by a small amount on the first pass, but broke into to 23 peices because it came within the Roche limit. All 23 peices hit Jupiter a few months later. Some of the peices could have missed on the second pass. Perhaps it was more probable that all the peices would miss for centuries. My point is the probability of an Earth hit was not reduced in this case, nor most other scenarios. My guess is the probability of an Earth hit is reduced by about 10% because Jupiter and our moon is there. Every little bit helps, but we probably should not think moons and gas giant planets are essential to life arising on a planet.
We should not expect hits to be evenly spaced, or the total number to be predictable except over periods of many centuries. Expect to be surprised. Neil

 

[adrenalynn]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

Some of the peices could have missed on the second pass.

With every telescope in the world pointed at it...

My point is the probability of an Earth hit was not reduced in this case, nor most other scenarios.

How did you arrive at that conclusion?

My guess is the probability of an Earth hit is reduced by about 10% because Jupiter and our moon is there.

How did you arrive at that number?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: Another Jupiter impact earlier today?

What is a TCD?

?????
Have no idea what you are talking about. I have not seen that term/acronym used anywhere in this entire discussion. Perhaps I missed it?