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Japanese astronomers have captured images of a potential impact on Jupiter, just over a month since a similar incident was observed.
A team, led by Ko Arimatsu of Kyoto University, posted images of a mysterious bright light appearing on the gas giant for about four seconds on October 15.
The event occurred in the northern tropical zone of Jupiter, near the southern edge of the northern temperate belt.
If the bright light is confirmed as an impact, it would be the ninth to be captured by the human eye – the last was observed on September 13.
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Japanese astronomers have captured images of a potential impact on Jupiter, just over a month since a similar incident was observed
“For the first time in history, we were able to simultaneously observe the flash of light as a small body collided with the surface of Jupiter at 10:24 pm (JST) on October 15,” the researchers shared. on Twitter, as first reported by Sky and Telescope.
Jupiter is struck by dozens, if not hundreds, of asteroids each year, as the giant planet acts as a blockade to prevent such objects from impacting Earth.
However, capturing such an event is very rare.
The first recorded impact on Jupiter was the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) which struck in July 1994.
A team, led by Ko Arimatsu of Kyoto University, posted images of a mysterious bright light appearing on the giant gas planet for about four seconds on Friday, October 15. Jupiter has been colorized to show the bright light
Last month, amateur astronomers captured a bright light appearing for a few seconds on the gas giant.
German astronomer Harald Paleske was observing Jupiter’s moon shadow, Io, creating a solar eclipse in Jupiter’s atmosphere when he spotted the likely impact.
After seeing the bright flash, Paleske said he looked at each image in hopes of determining the cause of the light.
He discovered that the flash was in Jupiter’s atmosphere and remained visible for two seconds, ruling out interference on Earth or a random satellite floating across the planet.
The event occurred in the northern tropical zone of Jupiter, near the southern edge of the northern temperate belt
“A flash of light surprised me,” he told Space Weather. “It could only be an impact.”
Another amateur astronomer in Brazil also documented the event.
José Luis Pereira set up his equipment in São Caetano do Sul, in the state of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, on September 12 and pointed the equipment at Jupiter.
“To my surprise, in the first video, I noticed a different glow on the planet, but I didn’t pay much attention to it because I thought it might be related to the settings adopted, and I continued to watch normally, ”Pereira explained. in an email to Space.com.
The first recorded impact on Jupiter was comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) which struck in July 1994 and last month (pictured) amateur astronomers captured a bright light appearing for a few seconds on the gas giant.
“In order not to stop the current captures for fear that the weather conditions would deteriorate, I did not check the first video.
“I only checked the result on the morning of the 14th, when the program alerted me to the high probability of impact and verified that there was indeed a recording in the first video of the night,” wrote Pereira.
He then sent the information to Marc Delcroix of the French Astronomical Society, who confirmed that the event seen in the images is an impact.
