Jupiter impact confirmed by JPL

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

All,

It seems that Jupiter has been hit by something, much like the shoemaker-levy impacts in 1994, a prominent black spot has appeared.

This one is near the south pole, it wasn't there 2 days ago when I saw this area last, so it's happened very recently!

Image coming soon, but if you're up, go have a look at Jupiter :-)

More to come I'm sure...

cheers, Bird

http://jupiter.samba.org

update: Glenn Orton from JPL has used the NASA Infrared Telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea to confirm that this is an impact and not a local weather event.

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

First image...

Bird

[iceman (Mike)]

Incredible, Anthony! I sure hope this turns out to be a new impact site!

Amazing.

[iceman (Mike)]

I just posted about it on the IceInSpace homepage with times (in UT) when the feature will be visible.

[Alchemy (Clive)]

awesome.... a discovery of scientific value , if it is an impact no doubt old images will be scoured worldwide for the culprit.

once again remarkable.


clive

[h0ughy (David)]

Fantastic find, Anthony have you provided the times and image to NASA?

[Lester]

Top catch Anthony.

All the best.

[Dennis]

Wow, wow and wow! Excellent capture of this astonishing new feature! Will it be named the “Bird Blob?

Cheers

Dennis

[StephenM (Stephen)]

Nice discovery, Anthony!
Looking forward to hearing more about this one.

Cheers,
Stephen

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

Fantastic find, Anthony have you provided the times and image to NASA?

Houghy, some of the JPL guys will have time on a scope tonight to have a look. I think that's the fastest they can move... not sure if hubble is up and running yet after its refit last month, last I heard was that it was still undergoing tests.

ps we get to see it tonight from Australia, around 10pm. It will still be low in the sky but worth a look.

cheers, Bird

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

I was going to pull my scope apart today, might just leave that till tomorrow so I can catch all the action tonight.
Thanks Anthony for the heads up. Congratulations on the catch!

[matt]

It will be fascinating to see whether this is, indeed, an impact or some other 'normally-occurring' process.

I'll be watching news/reports closely over the next 24 hours or so.

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

Thanks Matt. Impacts are also normally ocurring events too, just not all that often :-)

cheers, Bird

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks to a twitter frenzy this morning, it's now made news on Universe Today, and Bad Astronomy blog.

Phil Plaitt thinks it's premature to call it an impact event, it *could* be a weather event.

Let's hope it's an impact event!

[matt]

Originally Posted by bird

Thanks Matt. Impacts are also normally ocurring events too, just not all that often :-)

cheers, Bird

I meant a phenomenon which occurs from within the planet's atmosphere itself, a weather event as previouly described....not the result of an external influence such as an impact

As far as it being all over Twitter? I'll say 2 words ... Jeff Goldblum!

Thanks

[renormalised (Carl)]

Great shot....fantastic discovery, especially if it is an impact site. You'll be able to tell after a few rotations...it'll start to spread out.

This needs the Hubble or Keck to verify.

[cookie8 (Vincent)]

Great capture & congratulations for likely to discover something quite unusual.
Exciting!!!

[Quark (Trevor)]

Well done Anthony, a lovely image and just how exciting to discover a new feature.

In the close up of the feature there is a great similarity with what you captured and what I recall seeing when Shoemaker Levy Nine collided with Jupiter.

Keep us posted.
Regards
Trevor

[John K]

That's amazing! Great capture - will be interesting to see how the feature develops over the comming days.

Well done Anthony - good to see Aussie amateurs leading the way.

[bird (Anthony Wesley)]

More images can be seen here:

http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/Obs...er-impact.html

Already a higher res version there shows multiple impact marks.

cheers, Bird