Jupiter has once again been bombarded by space debris, according to information from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley.
Evidence of an Impact on Jupiter
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, followed up on a report by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley of Australia of a new dark mark in Jupiter's atmosphere. Using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility at the summit of Mauna Kea, the scientists found more evidence backing up the theory that the dark mark was caused by an impact.
The infrared images gathered on Monday, July 20, 2009, show an impact point near the south polar region of Jupiter. The dark scar where the object impacted is next to bright upwelling particles in the upper atmosphere detected in near-infrared wavelengths. The upper troposphere shows warming with possible extra emission from ammonia gas. In infrared the impact point is bright, while in visible light the impact appears dark against the atmosphere. The scar is approximately the size of the Pacific Ocean.
Impact Evidence Collected on Historic Day
Monday, July 20, 2009, was not only the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing but also the 15th anniversary of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacting Jupiter. Between July 16 and 22, 1994, pieces of the broken-up comet impacted Jupiter. That comet had been discovered in advance (by Eugene and Caroline Shoemaker and David Levy) and astronomers had all their telescopes trained on the planet as the pieces splashed one after the other into Jupiter's atmosphere.
"It could be impact of a comet, but we don't know for sure yet," says Glenn Orton, a scientist at JPL. A comet or asteroid is the most likely culprit. "It's been a whirlwind of a day, and this on the anniversary of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Apollo anniversaries is amazing."
Discovering What Impacted Jupiter
"The analysis of the shape and brightness of the feature will help in determining the energy and the origin of the impactor," says UC Berkeley and SETI Institute astronomer Franck Marchis. "We don't see other bright features along the same latitude, so this was most likely the result of a single asteroid, not a chain of fragments like for SL9."
Continuing observations will reveal more about what has so recently struck Jupiter.
The sun is the biggest target in the solar system and incurs numerous comet strikes on a regular basis. Jupiter, being the largest planet in the solar system, is the next largest target. Jupiter makes up 71% of the mass of the planets in the solar system. Its gravitational well helps draw impactors toward it and away from Earth.
Sources: JPL, UC Berkeley
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