Jupiter impact confirmed by JPL

[bird]

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]

First image...

Bird

[iceman]

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

Amazing.

[iceman]

I just posted about it on the IceInSpace homepage (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/home.html) with times (in UT) when the feature will be visible.

[Alchemy]

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]

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]

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

Cheers,
Stephen

[bird]

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]

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]

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

cheers, Bird

[iceman]

Thanks to a twitter frenzy this morning, it's now made news on Universe Today (http://www.universetoday.com/2009/07/19/possible-new-impact-on-jupiter/), and Bad Astronomy blog (http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/19/new-black-spot-on-jupiter/).

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]

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!:lol:

Thanks

[renormalised]

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]

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

[Quark]

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]

More images can be seen here:

http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/ObsReport/jupiter-impact.html

Already a higher res version there shows multiple impact marks.

cheers, Bird

[Dennis]

Excellent hi-res images Anthony, the tones and transitions are very smooth indeed. I’m so very pleased that you were our “man on the ground” for this discovery – it is so richly deserved!:thumbsup:

Cheers

Dennis

[bird]

Now the race is on to find the fireball... there's a slim chance that it's in some earlier data from that night.

Sigh, it's SL9 all over again, when the impact was around the limb and not visible.

I've been reminded that it's 15 years to the day since one of the SL9 impacts. How weird.

More images coming soon.

cheers, Bird

[jjjnettie]

You must be feeling very surreal at the moment Anthony.
Waiting for it all to unfold.

[bird]

It's truly strange. Add to that coming back inside at 3am to see the end of the golf as well... that was also a surreal finish.

[cosmologia]

Hi,
I confirm the black spot observed by Anthony.

Here in Leghorn, Tuscany, Italy (Livorno, Toscana).

ciao
Sergio

[bird]

Thanks Sergio, were you able to image it?

[snowyskiesau]

Just heard about this over at slashdot.org (http://slashdot.org).
This would explain why your website is inaccessible. :)

[matt]

This is quite interesting stuff.

I reckon it'd be great if as many of us as possible at IIS set up tonight and attempted to capture/confirm these markings.

Perhaps Mike/Anthony could provide links to where where we can send our data for comparison/analysis?

This is exciting.

[bird]

Yes, I figured that was the cause :-)

I'll keep posting the images here as well, (sorry Mike) ...

Some more images:

[sheeny]

Onya Bird!

You deserve it.

Al.

[iceman]

Don't apologise!

That last image is a cracker!

[cfranks]

I actually saw the SL9 big one hit. The fireball was immense and the scar left was not much larger (I think) than the one you found. Great find.

Charles

[meliux]

yay for the site getting slashdotted

[erick]

Great work, Anthony. :thumbsup:

So what have we got:-

40th anniversary of first Moon landing
First images of LEM remnants on the Moon
Shuttle launch
Largest number of space travellers to date in earth orbit
Longest total solar eclipse of the century
Impact on Jupiter captured

Now we just need Eta Carina to go Ka-boom to complete the fun!

[bird]

I've moved my site to a new location (thanks the gods for Tridge)

http://jupiter.samba.org

More images coming

[bird]

new image

[renormalised]

I've informed everyone at the Centre for Astronomy at JCU, staff and students, about your discovery, Anthony. You've generated some interest there:thumbsup::)

[Mikezoom]

Are you sure it's not a mass of black monoliths?

Mike. ;):eyepop::thumbsup:

[bird]

another one...

[DavidU]

This is truely awsome !

[square_peg114GT]

Well done, Anthony! Full marks!! :bowdown:

[Spanrz]

Phenomenal stuff Bird. Great capture. :thumbsup:
Details are great!

If it is a impact, do we call this the "Bird Strike" ........ ;) :D

[bird]

Brett... that was truly awful...

lol

[avandonk]

Just shows that years of dedicated imaging and perfecting techniques and equipment can lead to 'overnight' success in capturing a major interesting impact event. I now wonder how many 'dark' short lived 'storms' in the past have this origin.

Well done Bird.

bert

[seanliddelow]

Submit the image to astronomy picture of the day:thumbsup:

[iceman]

I agree! I hope you have, Anthony.

Where's the animation? What have you been doing all day? LOL

[bird]

Yer, getting slashdotted caused a bump in the days plans...

[spacezebra]

What a genius! What a stunning image! Well done bird - what a capture!

Cheers Petra d,

[DavidU]

Anthony's news is front page of Astromart now
:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thum bsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Stuart78]

Congratulations on a ripper find Anthony:eyepop: i bet there are gonna be a number of scopes aiming at Jupiter tonight, hope the clouds hold off for everyone to get a glimpse of this, just goes to show Australia really has a some of the greatest brew of talent in amateur astronomy circles, i am really excited for you Bird well done mate:thumbsup::cheers:

[seanliddelow]

This will be world news.....did you first see it when it crossed the limb?
Is this the first one discovered since shoemaker-levy9?

[matt]

Any confirmations through official channels yet?

[[1ponders]]

Congratulation Anthony. Fantastic news. :clap: well deserved accolades. :clap:

I really wouldn't know anything about deciding if it's a weather event or a collision even.......but ;) isn't there a trailing shadow/smudge/darkblurrybit that sorta looks like the SL9 after effects. :jump:

[seanliddelow]

I cant imagine its anything but an impact.

[Lumen Miner]

WoW!! That has to be the definition of AWESOMNESS!!!


Well done!

[seanliddelow]

In the close up it has the after effects

[seanliddelow]

apod is going to get flooded by iis user contributions.

[tonybarry]

I'll echo others feelings here - well done mate. Amateurs can do real astronomy. You don't need a Keck (although, to be sure it's handy).

Regards,
Tony Barry

[seanliddelow]

Im just glad an iis user discovered it

[iceman]

Dr John Rogers seems to think it's an impact site - he says:



That's a pretty trustworthy opinion to me!

[spearo]

Congratulations!
Fantastic!
frank:thumbsup:

[bird]

Thanks guys, I'm still processing data... should have one or two more good images to come.

The spot has been imaged in methane (CH4) by Damian Peach and others in the UK and looks bright at that wavelength, this is generally considered to be a sign of high altitude material, and looks promising to confirm it as an impact.

Considering the location (close to the poles where storm activity is minor and things are always quiet) it's not likely to be anything else, but it will take a while longer for any official results I guess.

cheers, Bird

[matt]

:thumbsup:

[DavidU]

YES !!!!! excellent

[miki63au]

"Amateurs can do real astronomy..."

Well, the Wright brothers build the first aeroplanes,
and "professionals" the Titanic.


No matter what, it's a marvelous achievement's Anthony!!
You are a inspiration, teacher, master for all of us! Thank you!

The "iceinspace" is the place to learn, teach, and trade. Period.

One way ticket to Mars. And beyond.

[matt]

It'll be interesting to see how long this feature hangs around....and how it develops, if at all, over time.

[Spanrz]

I know, I have a sarcastic mind that speaks faster than my mouth. :screwy:

That's got to be one massive impact. Blows my mind.
Would you say it's big as the Earth? (impact site / black plume dot)
So far, only one impact site? (no breakup of material like S-L 9)

Such Awesomeness, Anthony! :thumbsup:

Yep, and the clouds are "IN" Melbourne yet again. Always when a show is "ON", so are the clouds.
Going to see if I can stay up late on a weeknight now and wait for the clouds to go away!

[iceman]

I'm so bummed I'm in Melbourne this week, otherwise I would've been out imaging last night as well - and tonight!

[DavidU]

Yes I was thinking about you being 1000KM away from your scope at just the wrong time !

[bird]

Brett, if that had hit earth we'd be in serious trouble, but on Jupiter it's relatively small. I'd hazard a guess that the impact mark I saw was about the size of the north american continent, given that the GRS is roughly earth-sized.

cheers, Bird

[RB]

Anthony, that's fantastic !!
Congratulations on your capture.

You make us all proud.

:)

[iceman]

I'm pretty sure the GRS is 2x the size of Earth!

Making the new impact site at least the size of our Moon or bigger?

[bird]

Yes, well spotted. I should have googled that. I think I remembered the short radius being about the size of the earth or something. Its a bit smaller now than it was a century ago.

cheers, Bird

[spacezebra]

Spot on Mike.
The GRS is an oval about 12,000 by 25,000 km, big enough to hold two Earths.

[acropolite]

Of course it'll have to be known as the "Great Bird strike", excellent work bird. :thumbsup:

[renormalised]

You have to remember that the dynamics of an object hitting Jupiter are somewhat different than those hitting the Earth. Whereas most of the impacting energy of an object hitting the Earth is deposited into the ground, on Jupiter it has only a deep atmosphere to dissipate its energy into. The dynamic characteristics of the explosion are different. On Jupiter, you have a blast that's akin to a massive airburst. Basically, the object plunges into the atmosphere till it reaches a depth where the atmospheric resistance becomes greater than the object's structure can handle and it flash vapourises. It forms an enormous fireball which looks for the point of least resistance to escape to, which in this case is up. It's much like creating an enormous torch like jet of superheated atmospheric gases and asteroid/cometary materials that blasts its way to the upper atmosphere and then spreads out. In a planet which is predominantly gas, the effects are very spectacular, even for relatively small to medium impactors. However, the object which caused this was probably quite substantial in size.....Chicxulub in size, maybe. If it was, then it was a 100 million megaton explosion, and we know how big a hole it excavated!!!.

Huge, but far less spectacular than a similar burst on Jupiter.

[bird]

Glenn Orton from JPL is imaging the site now with the NASA Infrared Telescope and he;s just told me it's an impact . So I guess that's official :-)

cheers, Bird

[renormalised]

There you go:D:D:thumbsup:

[DavidU]

Mate ! I am so happy for you.
Thrilled to bit's
Somewhere there must be an image of the object before the strike. There will be a lot of image checking going on.

[matt]

Top stuff:)

[iceman]

Fantastic news, well done!

[h0ughy]

Ok i wont tell you it is crystal clear

[Kal]

Congratulations on the discovery bird! A true reward for your dedication to planetary imaging :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

well done and congratulations:) on the official update

[rat156]

Have to add my congrats as well Bird. I was out last night, trying to image, but it looked as though Jove was in a lava lamp, so I gave up :-(

Didn't even save an AVI, so no pre strike images from me.

Cheers
Stuart

[jjjnettie]

Is it newsworthy Matt???:whistle::lol::D

[DavidU]

Anthony is going to need an agent and a media dude !:lol:

[eqcradle]

Congrats Bird. It's been fun watching the story unfold throughout the day today. I haven't had my Dob out for months, but I'll be setting it up at ~22:00 tonight (on the off-chance it's visible through an 8"). Thankfully it's a nice clear one here in Canberra tonight.

CL

[matt]

Were you listening today...jjj????

Between the Apollo 11 material and the stories on Magellan....I thought I was working on Catalyst or something:lol::lol:

[bird]

CL, should be easily visible if the seeing is ok, I havent looked yet - Jupiter is up but still low in the east. I'll be going out to the scope at 9.30, maybe still too early but what the heck.

cheers, Bird

[seanliddelow]

Bad weather in perth makes sean something something...

[alan meehan]

Bird, Well done mate!

[seanliddelow]

Submit it to apod!:thumbsup:

[MrB]

Congrats Bird!
Awesome.

[StephenM]

Congratulations again Bird! My scope's cold so I'm heading outside to have a look now.

Cheers,
Stephen

[PeterM]

Congratulations Bird,
A fine discovery indeed and sensational images.
PeterM.

[bird]

Outside again now, the seeing is poor with the low altitude but its still quite visible.

cheers, Bird

[CometGuy]

Wow! What an increadible discovery Bird!

I'd never imagine we would see another Jupiter impact in our lifetime :eyepop:

Terry

[multiweb]

Nice :thumbsup: Well done and congrats on the discovery.

[leinad]

Well done! Media attention well deserved :D

[Spanrz]

Just realised something.

On the date of the 40th year anniversary Moon Landings, it took a few Aussies to help assist in obtaining/relaying pictures of the actual Moon Landing.

And what a day to mark, with another landing of another type.
Again, assisted by the means of an Australian.

What would NASA do with out us Aussies :)
Go you good thing.!

It's clearing up in Melbourne, so might get a show after all, but midnight approaches very quickly :/

[leinad]

Noticed this has made the Discover Magazine blogs :D
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/07/19/new-black-spot-on-jupiter/
EDIT: Mike's been there already :)

I'll throw the crazy ideas out there :P Could one of the moons collided?
I'll expect a witty answer :P

[rat156]

Yep, I'm seeing it too!!!

Thanks Bird.
Cheers
Stuart

[netwolf]

Congrats Bird, all you efforts over the year are paying off. I am not sure if it was mentioned but i read on the one of the linked blogs, someone mentioned this is the same week that Shoemarker Levy impacted on Jupiter July 16the-22nd 1994.

[bird]

Yes, what a bizarre coincidence...

[astroron]

Well done Anthony:thumbsup:
I was able to see it quite plainly in the 16" till the mist came over and unlike Saturday night the seeing went to pot:(

[desler]

I'm late coming to the party being back at work and not having too much time to look up or play on the net! But let me pass on my congratulations Bird, really sensational work!

Well done, and whatever it finally gets listed as, ie impact or otherwise, a truly great image and something for us all to aspire to on those long cold winter nights.

Darren

[Quark]

Great news regarding the confirmation with the NASA IR Telescope.

Imaged it tonight at 12:05, 12:10, 12:15 and 12:20 UTC. Being so low the seeing was not to good but I could still see the impact site on the raw feed from the DMK.

Due to the seeing at such a low altitude I have captured only the red channel for 2 minutes each capture for about 3,500 frames. Hope to be able to stack about 1,000 frames for each image.

Regards
Trevor

[rat156]

Taken @ 11.16PM.

Not as big as some, but I'm happy.

Seeing won't allow a larger magnification :(

Cheers
Stuart

[bird]

I recorded some data tonight, but a howling jetstream and low altitude means it's low-res only.

cheers, Bird

[Ric]

Hi Bird, I just caught up with your images on the CAS mail.

Fantastic stuff and well done, that is a great feather in your cap.

cheers

[jjjnettie]

I'm sorry I missed it Matt. It's not archived?
Nice to have so much good news for a change.:)

[markseibold]

Congratulations Bird on capturing this image of the Jupiter impact.

We were observing Jupiter Saturday night at a large public star party east of Portland Oregon. I wonder when it will be confirmed that this event occurred as I thought we were seeing the same Jupiter face and I wondered if there was a shadow transit in the South polar region with the GRS just coming around the edge.

Mark

[Dennis]

Hello,

After a patient but exciting wait, Jupiter cleared the tree tops and appeared on the Notebook screen, albeit a bit wobbly! Here is the best I could do given the tricky conditions. The weather map shows that we were on the edge of the jet stream, which probably accounted for the wildly varying seeing.

Mewlon 180, Vixen x2 Barlow, DBK21AF04 ccd camera. Recorded at 22:09 pm AEST

Cheers

Dennis

[Jen]

:eyepop::eyepop: wow how exciting great work Bird :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Quark]

Hi Anthony, can relate to the problems with the altitude and jetstream.

This is the first image I have processed from tonight July 20th, only the red channel, 1032 frames of 3600. This is the first time out for my new TV 3x Barlow working at 5x. Love the image scale, at least it fits on the DMK chip now.

Although a low res image, your impact site is clearly visible, the second dark spot below it and further to the east is a dust bunny on my CCD.

South is up and West is to the right. This image was a 2 minute capture starting at 12:10 UTC.

Regards
Trevor

[cosmologia]

Hi Anthony, look at ALPO, my image is made by Sergio, Sergio Saltamonti.
Livorno (Leghorn), Italy.

Ciao

Sergio

[TimHP]

Hi All, sorry for my english.
my shot from 15-07-2009 and 18-07-2009 in Tashkent, UZ.

we not see this.

LX200R 10" + DSI Pro, i havent barlou :(
i am try get new images 23-07 and 25-07.

[xstream]

Well done Anthony. I can imagine the elation you must be feeling, that's a truly great find for all years of dedication to Planetary imaging. :thumbsup:

[Dennis]

Hello,

Here is a 3 frame animation. Apologies for the jittery transitions!

Cheers

Dennis

[xstream]

Great animation Dennis!

[meliux]

I was rather thrilled late last Friday evening (after more than a few beers + smirnoffs) to see for the first time ever Jupiter being more than a simple bright dot in the sky... it was the first time I saw Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, too. If I could hold my binos steady enough (no mount yet) then I might have also been able to see Io.
Finding out that the fuzzy blue spot a little bit below Jupiter was actually Neptune made me laugh out loud.

And to think that somewhere in that FOV was the object that would hit Jupiter shortly thereafter... amazing :)

[allan gould]

Bird
If your photo doesnt win the Malin photo award for solar system then Ill eat my hat.
Brilliant pay off for continued excellent diligence.

[Spikeles]

Nasa JPL has an image up: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-112

[eqcradle]

Nice article on New Scientist too:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17491-jupiter-sports-new-bruise-from-impact.html

Edit: what's the bright circle at the bottom of the photo in this article? Shadow of a moon? Why would it appear bright in IR?

[Stuart78]

I was out from 10pm -12am and the seeing was horrid the sky looked really clear but the seeing was very unstable probably due to the fact jupiter was so low in the sky and there was very gusty mild NW wind,
does the impact scar stand out as much as say a moon transit shadow??, hopefully tonight is better conditions, but in the meantime enjoying some of the images coming through:thumbsup:






Stu>>:D

[iceman]

Official NASA announcement:
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/jup-20090720.html

A reporter from the SMH contacted me, after talking to Anthony. So I imagine it'll be on SMH soon too.

Congrats again Anthony. How's the adrenalin going?

[renormalised]

I was just thinking, how amazing is it that Anthony's impactor created the "Bird Strike" at the same time as the Apollo 11 40th, and the SL9 Impact's 15th anniversaries:eyepop::)

Hey Anthony, you didn't plan this, did you??!!:P:P:D:D

I'll bet he has a "red phone" hotline to the "Ol' Guy" upstairs!!!:P:P:D:D

[Quark]

Hi Anthony, this is the best image of my four captures from July 20th.
It was so low that to bring my scope to bear on it I had to open the shutter at the lower end of the slot in my dome.

This is a low res image due to the low latitude and jetstream activity, however the "Bird Impactor" is quite obvious. This image is the best 1000 of 3600 frames from a Red channel avi and was started at 12:15 UTC.

Based on the extended time period that the SL9 scars remained visible, this scar should remain for at least several weeks.

Hope to get some high res images when the target region is better positioned latter in the night and with some co-operating from the jetstream.

Heartiest congratulations again.
Regards
Trevor

[cookie8]

Wow! Certainly the biggest discovery by a IIS member for a long time.
Once again, amateur beating professional.
That underscore the important role of amateur astronomy/photography despite all these huge telescopes operate by professionals. BTW Bird,your image is faaaaaar better than that of NASA

[h0ughy]

just did a pdf of the article in question

[meliux]

"Mark" Salway? lol!

[rat156]

It's just a shame that they cant get the details right...

"An amateur Australian astronomer has set the space-watching world on fire after discovering that a rare comet or asteroid the size of Earth had crashed into Jupiter."

I think something the size of Earth would leave a much bigger hole, and we may have spotted it beforehand. We certainly would have not called it a comet or asteroid, planet is the term that comes to mind.

Cheers
Stuart

[renormalised]

That's typical of the media, anyway. Unfortunately, you can't control what they write. An Earth sized impactor would leave more than a very large hole!!!!.

Not only that, for someone that supposedly studied English and such at university, that first sentence is amazingly bad language..."An 'amateur Australian' astronomer". So, Anthony, you're only playing at being Australian, according to the reporter, whilst being an astronomer!!!:P:D

[mdgodf]

This is great stuff! Nice article in todays Sydney Morning herald too, mentions IIS: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/backyard-astronomer-spots-big-bang-on-jupiter-20090721-dria.html

[matt]

Geez, you blokes!!!!

I would think you could focus on the positive here. The story has been covered by the mainstream media and Anthony has received the kudos he deserves.

[norm]

Well done Anthony - this is really exciting stuff.:thumbsup:

Great that IIS gets a mention in the SMH too!

Awesome stuff :thumbsup::D

[Analog6]

Congatulations!

[Jay-qu]

Just saw this in the Age :) I thought to myself 'I wonder if Anthony is an IceInSpace member' :P Congratulations mate.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci-tech/backyard-astronomer-spots-big-bang-on-jupiter-20090721-dria.html

Too bad they used the uncopyrighted NASA image

[renormalised]

We have and he deserves it all, but that doesn't mean they have to be slack in their reporting. If you tell someone something, you'd think they'd get it right when they wrote it down. It's nitpicking, yes, but these guys are supposed to be trained in researching, writing and passing on information. They should know and do a lot better. You have to have some sort of standard of writing to adhere to.

Anyway, let's get back to the topic at hand....the "Bird Strike":):)

[iceman]

I'm disappointed the SMH/Age didn't use Anthony's image, or an image of him with his telescope.

Too bad also about "Mark" Salway, but hey, what can you do? :)

I'm glad the mainstream media are giving this the attention it deserves. Anthony deserves the credit and the fame being bestowed upon him ;)

[renormalised]

Yes, it's good to see it in the papers. I just hope the TV take things up as well...and hopefully they'll get things right:):)

[jib]

Congrats on the great find!

Your the feature article on smh.com.au! Well deserved :D

[h0ughy]

well Mark, LOL i read it but never picked up on it......

as for the mainstream coverage - well done:thumbsup:

[avandonk]

I am sure the media will do a 'feature' article (or many) that goes into more depth and is accurate in every detail.

It is easy to confuse sizes when deadlines and editors are involved.

The important thing is to emphasise that dedicated and skilled amateurs can contribute in meaningful ways to Astronomy Science.

It is not enough to do the observing but one must have the experience and knowledge to notice when something is not quite right. I am sure even if I was looking at the same resolution as Bird (Anthony) I would have totally missed it.

Bert

[John K]

This is such a great story - we'll done again Anthony - good to see that all that observing over the years you have done has delivered a magnificent discovery like this that adds huge value not only to science but also the credibility of amateur astronomy which at times is under-valued.

It will be really interesting to see how the impact feature develops over the comming days and if it was a comet or an asteroid.

p.s. and glad that Jove (the Solar system's vaccum cleaner) is there sucking up all the debrie of the outer solar system before they make their way too close to us!

[matt]

And now on Brisbane Times dot-com

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/technology/sci-tech/backyard-astronomer-spots-big-bang-on-jupiter-20090721-dria.html

Pictures too!!!:D:P

[mdgodf]

The Fairfax press (SMH, Age, and Brisbane Times) now say "Mike"...do they read the forums?

[avandonk]

They certainly do!

bert

[Geoff-]

Awesome work Anthony! Stunning pics too, better than NASA's :)

[erick]

Absolutely :thumbsup:

And they did get the IIS URL correct! :D

[rat156]

I expect a miniseries to come from this, after all they're going to pay some dumb Pom a "six figure" sum to tell his "I got lost in the Aussie bush for 10 days" story.

It is great to see this getting some attention, but it won't be enough. This is really a tremendous achievement by an amateur. Unfortunately Science doesn't rate well on TV unless it's CSI or some other drivel.

Again, congrats to Anthony.

Mike (lesser known as Mark), we should organise an awards night, in keeping with the IYA, you could easily do a nice slideshow with some of the pics from the site, guest speakers etc, maybe even an outreach session. Invite the pollies along to show them why we need dark skies.

Cheers
Stuart

[Kal]

I've contacted the SMH journalist that had his name on the article to notify him of the error. Should be fixed now. (yep, fixed, just checked)

[Dujon]

Anthony, I applaud your vision and dedication. I would lay you odds that most of the members here, even if they were viewing Jupiter at the same time as yourself, would have missed the anomalous 'blob' circulating so close to the pole.

Well, I would. :(

[renormalised]

Should've mentioned his command of the language as well in the statement "amateur Australian astronomer"....not good English. But then again, that was probably the sub editor's fault:P:P:D:D

[orestis]

:thumbsup:CONGRATULATIONS on your discovery, must be very excited (i am):lol:.Fantastic picture of Jupiter as well as capturing the significant impact site.
Great image .
regards ,Orestis

[iceman]

It's great of Asher (SMH editor) to correct the errors so quickly. I spoke to him a number of times on the phone today helping him the details.

It's on the front page!

It's so great that it's hit the mainstream media.

[Spanrz]

This stuff is full on "awesomeness". It just get's better and better for you Anthony. :cheers:
And the great recognition you deserve.:clap:

I was out last night "trying", but the clouds turned it on and the frustration of "please, just a little peak, pretty please with a cherry on top" were muttered out of my mouth, it came and went too soon.
I got all about of 7 minutes of partial viewing before I gave up before bed (work night). Melbourne....hmmph

It is hard to control the media, just hope the papers tomorrow show the right picture.

[seanliddelow]

Have you submitted it to apod?

[DavidU]

ABC news
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/07/21/2632368.htm

[renormalised]

At MSNBC as well

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32015814/ns/technology_and_science-space/

[renormalised]

And, CBS News too

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/21/tech/main5176360.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectio nContent.10

[matt]

yep....and there's a name for those who try.

It was the same name given to Mussolini...Hitler...and their ilk;):P:lol:

[DavidU]

Bird is getting more internet time than Michael Jackson

[avandonk]

Have all you folks seen or noticed the almost word for word similarity of these 'news' bits. I think there is a lot of cut and paste in their racket.

That is why it should be corrected before it is promulgated widely.


Bert

[HolyWars]

Well done Bird! I saw this thread lastnight and thought it was very cool....but wow! I was on the way home from work and 774 ABC Melbourne had it in thier 4.30pm news bulletin!

Congrats!:thumbsup:

[Very_Frightened]

oh no ...
please, not another "Armageddon" or "Deep Impact" movie ...

... those were just horrible, i sure hope hollywood isn't paying any attention right now!

i just hope the news will sink in with the general public without any unnecessary media-hype ...

BTW, great find Bird :thumbsup:

[renormalised]

Yep, there's a lot of it going on. Basically it's plagiarism.

[coldspace]

Congrats, Bird.

Its nice to see people like you and other various discovers like our own S/Nova guys, comet hunters, occulation imagers and any other people we have in IIS that contribute to real astro science. This is what astronomy is all about, making new discoveries.
What a nice trophy you have now to add to your collection.
Us Aussies can hold our own.

Regards Matt.

[seanliddelow]

It wasnt on ten news in perth :mad2:

[renormalised]

I don't think any of the major TV channels took up coverage of Anthony's discovery. Pretty poor, if you ask me.

Let's see if they decide to do something over the next few days.

[Jen]

:lol::lol::lol:
Hey speaking of Bird :screwy: where did he go :rofl:

[Matty P]

Congratulations Anthony. What an amazing achievement. :) I commend you on your efforts. :D

It is funny what you can miss in a couple of days not reading the forums. :lol: :scared:

:thumbsup:

[cometcatcher]

Congratulations Anthony!

Amazing photos that look like they came from Hubble.

I guess the spot will grow bigger over the coming days like S-L-9 did? Unfortunately it's cloudy here, as per usual when anything is happening the sky...

[AlexN]

Bloody incredible!

I'm so very excited for you Anthony.. You must be pinching yourself on a regular basis just to make sure its not all a dream...

This just goes to show that years of dedication and hard work finally does pay off...

Incredible stuff.. A very warm round of applause for you!

[DavidU]

Top news story on CNN
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/21/jupiter.nasa.meteor.scar/index.html

[bird]

Excellent Dennis, glad you had some good seeing.

cheers, Bird

[bird]

He's been swamped by media today... talk about a crazy time, the phone has literally not stopped ringing, and it was funny having photographers out here trying to squeeze around the scope taking piccies...

Thanks to everyone for the comments, I really appreciate it, hopefully things will quiet down a bit now that the moon landing anniverary is past...

cheers, Bird

[Jen]

:) Oh there you are :P Yeah i bet the phones have been going crazy :thumbsup:
Good on ya buddy :thumbsup::thumbsup: I always love your pics cheers ;)
keep em coming :D

[Terry B]

Stunning stuff'
Being on holidays I have missed this story. Well done Bird.
Great science discovery.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[erick]

Signing photos of his first image?? :D

[IanL]

Bird well done!
That’s truly fantastic.

It’s great to see that amateur astronomers are still having their own success with new findings.
When you think of how many professional institutions have their telescopes pointed upwards.
:thumbsup:
Ian

[Raydar]

Congrats on a great catch mate.

Ray

[bird]

Thanks again, anyway... back to the data... here's another image from Sunday night, this one has taken 24 hours to process, I'm experimenting with using 3x upsampled data which slows everything down a lot but give a better result I think...

cheers, Bird

[DavidU]

Superb. It seems to have a sharper contrast.
You pop star:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

Anthony on my lappy that looks so surreal - very 3d!

[Kal]

This is the lead story on the CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/) webpage now. Unfortunately, they don't even mention Anthony's name. I've sent feedback using CNN's "missing information" form to provide them with a name and a link to birds far superior, and hundred times more impressive, discovery photo.

Do you need a media agent bird? :P

[rat156]

Trying for the 10% Kal??

Cheers
Stuart

[Kal]

Aren't agents more like 30% ;)

[DavidU]

My agent gets 5%.

[renormalised]

Anthony, that new pic has fantastic resolution and clarity. Your new method of sampling the data is working well:thumbsup::D

[g__day]

Let me add my congratulations to on a great find and all the effort and attention to detail that made it possible.

A very welll done and well desrved Bird!

PS

Nice article Asher - progressing nicely since AtomicMPC!

[mithrandir]

CNN now says " ... noticed by an amateur astronomer in Australia ... " and uses NASA's photos.

[DavidU]

Kal has emailed CNN. Anthony deserves it.

[erick]

I have a feeling Anthony has not had much sleep lately!

He ran the gauntlet of Red Symons on ABC 774 breakfast radio, but had a marvellous interview, even with Red's oblique comments and questions. Good information was given and Red insisted that the impact zone has to be named "Wesley's Black Spot" saying Anthony has the naming rights!

Great job, Anthony! :thumbsup:

[stephenb]

Well done Anthony.

It also made the Herald Sun in Victoria (online at least, I don't buy the paper): http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25817536-662,00.html (http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25817536-662,00.html)

(Not as good as CNN but...)

So we have the GRS and WBS?

[iceman]

It's fully mainstream now - been on CNN, CBS, Fox and many others.

Anthony did a live phone hook up with CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/tech/2009/07/21/bpr.jupiter.spot.astronomer.cnn) - it was a great interview, well done Anthony.

[matt]

Just listened to the CNN interview. Nice work Anthony.

[Kal]

Fantastic interview with CNN Anthony :cool2:

[Dennis]

An excellent interview Anthony – you sounded so calm and relaxed! Must be the sleep deprivation! LOL!

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

And this thread is rapidly heading for 7500 views!:scared:

[bird]

Thanks guys... was up until 1.30 doing overseas calls, and then the local radio calls started at 5.30... it's a madhouse.

cheers Bird

[h0ughy]

but the inmates are happy :thumbsup:

[PeterO]

Congratulations Mr Bird, I just then watched your interview with CNN and thought you conducted yourself superbly, well done.

[Stuart78]

Good to see the Herald Sun used his photo too:thumbsup:

[Darth Wader]

Just wanted to add my congratulations Anthony, a remarkable find of which you should be very proud.

Cheers
Wade

[netwolf]

Anthony, i saw the CNN video just now and was imprresed witht the way you handeld yourself. Congrats again.
Here is the link if it has not been posted already
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2009/07/21/bpr.jupiter.spot.astronomer.cnn?ire f=videosearch

BTW What camera did you use for this historic capture? Also could you give some details on this new resampling process of yours, the results look awesome in detail.

[Quark]

Hi Anthony, here is the official IAU bulletin

Electronic Telegram No. 1882
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (mhtml:{8CCDD9DC-0910-4CF2-A13D-9AA71561E500}mid://00000006/!x-usc:mailto:IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU) or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (mhtml:{8CCDD9DC-0910-4CF2-A13D-9AA71561E500}mid://00000006/!x-usc:mailto:CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU) (science)
URL http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html (mhtml:{8CCDD9DC-0910-4CF2-A13D-9AA71561E500}mid://00000006/!x-usc:http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html)


TRANSIENT FEATURES ON JUPITER
J. H. Rogers, Jupiter Section Director, British Astronomical Association,
reports on BAA Electronic Bulletin No. 00429 word of the discovery by
Anthony Wesley (Murrumbateman, NSW, Australia) of a "virtually black" spot in
Jupiter's South Polar Region, very similar in appearance to the impact spots
of comet D/1993 F2 in July 1994. Information at the web site
http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/ (mhtml:{8CCDD9DC-0910-4CF2-A13D-9AA71561E500}mid://00000006/!x-usc:http://www.acquerra.com.au/astro/) notes that the discovery was made by
Wesley (0.37-m f/5 reflector) on July 19.56 UT and shows an image he obtained
(Point Grey Research Dragonfly2 mono camera, 60-s exposure) on July 19.66.
Rogers adds that the spot is at longitude 216 deg (System II) and that
T. Mishina (Japan) also reported the same spot in an image taken at about
the same time.

F. Marchis, University of California, Berkeley (UCB), and SETI Institute;
and M. H. Wong, Space Telescope Science Institute, report that analysis of
observations of Jupiter's atmosphere collected by P. Kalas, M. Fitzgerald and
J. Graham (UCB) using the NIRC2 near-infrared camera at the W. M. Keck II
telescope during July 20.468-20.474 UT (central meridian longitudes 283-288
deg, System III) revealed the presence of an anomalous bright feature
centered at planetographic coordinates 305 +/- 1.5 deg west, 57 +/- 1.5 deg
south. This feature is most likely linked to Wesley's dark spot,
interpreted to be an impact in the atmosphere of Jupiter. The scar, having
an area of about 200 million square km and well seen in the Kp filter centered
at 2.124 microns, has a complex shape, composed of an impact site with two
prominent features separated by about 2 degrees and an ejecta field that
extends some 10 deg toward the west. The scar is marginally detected in
observations recorded in H band (centered at 1.633 microns) and in CH4
(centered at 1.681 microns) filters. Further observations during July
20.619-20.627 (central meridian longitudes 54-62 deg) do not show evidence
for additional impacts. See also
http://cilaos.berkeley.edu/~fmarchis2/Jupiter2009/OurImages/Image_Keck.jpg (mhtml:{8CCDD9DC-0910-4CF2-A13D-9AA71561E500}mid://00000006/!x-usc:http://cilaos.berkeley.edu/~fmarchis2/Jupiter2009/OurImages/Image_Keck.jpg)
and http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mikewong/G510/ircolor_annotation.pdf (mhtml:{8CCDD9DC-0910-4CF2-A13D-9AA71561E500}mid://00000006/!x-usc:http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mikewong/G510/ircolor_annotation.pdf) .



NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

(C) Copyright 2009 CBAT
2009 July 21 (CBET 1882) Brian G. Marsden

[Stuart78]

Just seen a write up in the Herald Sun, page 7 nearlly a full page, including great photo of Anthony with his scope and his image of the Jupiter bird strike!!, it is also in the world news section, awesome stuff:party2:







Stu..

[erick]

Just had the chance to listen. Very good interview, Anthony! Congratulations.

[matt]

Can someone hook me up with Anthony's ph contact details?

I've just spoken with 4BC (Brisbane) drive-time announcer Michael Smith about this and he's keen to have Bird on the program this arvo:)

[iceman]

PM'd you.

[jjjnettie]

Thanks for letting us share the ride Anthony!
We're all very very proud of your achievement.

[allan gould]

Am I correct in assuming that the "Bird Scar" will be visible tonight at about 11:30pm tonight AEST?

[matt]

Thanks 'Mark'....

I've forwarded the details to the relevant folk.

For Brisbane and Queensland folk, it'll be worth tuning in this afternoon between 3 and 6pm to the Michael Smith program on 4BC, or whatever network station you listen to which takes its programming from 4BC across the day.

The station also streams on the internet. Just click on the 'Listen Live' button.

http://www.4bc.com.au/

Looking forward to Bird's debut on Brissy radio:)

[Dennis]

See attached chart for Brisbane, 22 July 2009.

Cheers

Dennis

[allan gould]

Many thanks Dennis, I will be setup tonight and imaging. Will be nice to have a shadow transit as well
Allan

[matt]

Hmmmm.

We've got a fair amount of jetstream activity over Bris at the moment...but I'd love to capture the 'scar' while it's still there...:whistle:

[bird]

Hi guys, look like it will be 3.40pm this arvo on 4BC, thanks Matt!

[jjjnettie]

That'll round your birthday off nicely Allan! :D

[matt]

A pleasure, mate!!!

You deserve it.

Be sure to let Smithy know about some of the all-niters we shared out at Murrumbateman!!;):lol::thumbsup:

[DavidU]

"The scar, having
an area of about 200 million square km "


:scared:

[allan gould]

Yes, thanks for that Jeanette. 40th anniversary of Moon landing, Shoemaker-Levy 9, Bird strike and next the longest eclipse in China for some while - lucky me.

[h0ughy]

are there any of Anthony's interviews that are MP3 or downloadable?

[gaa_ian]

Well done Anthony !
I am very Impressed and it is one of the segments in my science show. Now streaming live (http://www.govefm.com.au) on Gove FM at 3:30 to 4:30 central standard time TODAY (eastern states are 1/2hr ahead).
Its been a huge week for Astronomy and space science !

[StephenM]

This is the most popular story on the ABC news website at the moment! Nice one Bird :thumbsup:

[renormalised]

You know guys, there's going to have to be a Board of Inquiry over this latest "Bird Strike"....I mean, there's too many "Birds" flying around out there and it's a danger to all passing planets in the vicinity of "Earth Control Tower"!!!!:P:P:D:D

We're all very proud of you and your achievement, Anthony. I hope we see more excellent discoveries from you in the future:)

[erick]

Haven't noticed URL to ABC Radio (Fran Kelly) interview posted. Here it is:-

http://www.abc.net.au/news/audio/2009/07/22/2632985.htm

[mithrandir]

I've converted the CNN one to MPEG (~12MB) and MP3 (~3MB). If anyone provides links to others I can do the same.

Is there somewhere I can put them so I don't suffer from Anthony's site overload too? :)

[matt]

I'd be happy to send an mp3 of the interview this afternoon on 4BC to someone...if they're collating this stuff.

I hope there'll be a central access point on IIS?

[renormalised]

Excellent interview. Great going, Anthony!!:)

[h0ughy]

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/iisftp.html

[DavidU]

There is a huge pic of Anthony & telescope in the Herald Sun today.
The telescope looks awesome

[Lester]

Top interview Anthony. You are very deserving of such a moment, it is a just, reward for your dedication to imaging Jupiter.

[bird]

Thanks guys, ps something (don't know what) is running in Seven news at 4.30 and probably later as well.

cheers, Bird

ps definitely calming right down now, the phone goes whole minutes between call.

[Alchemy]

made the radio here in melbourne, well done .
look forward to seeing you on the telly tonight.

[DavidU]

The channel 7 interview was great !
Great setup you have at home Anthony

[netwolf]

Bird, I think your discovery has eclipsed the Solar Eclipse this year.

[Lester]

Don't forget your make-up before going on TV.

[bird]

As the saying goes, I have a good face for radio :-)

[Jen]

Nice Anthony i just listened to the CNN report :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
You done well :D

[Quark]

Just watching our channel 7 4:30 news, we get it from SA, very nice piece Anthony. Your scope and setup looked great, deserved a considerably longer segment.

Regards
Trevor

[Spanrz]

Just read it :thumbsup:... An now listening to the CNN interview.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

My old man, sent me an SMS today, saying "Big telescope on page 7".
Haha.
I could tell by the drool factor of the SMS, that he wanted one, like Veruca Salt ("Daddy, I want it NOW").

He was the one that got me my first scope, so it seems the Xmas pressie this year to him, will be a scope.....
What goes around, comes around.

Great media coverage Anthony.
I like the reply to the CNN host, "What would it sound like?" question....:lol:

EDIT:

Anthony, are you on Facebook? You should be.
You'll have about a few million friends in one day and maybe crash their servers with all the requests for friends...Hahaha

[Troy]

Well done Bird it couldn't happen to a nicer bloke !

:eyepop:

[bird]

Heads up... Channel 10 at about 7pm, Dave and co. on the 7pm project

[cosmologia]

Anthony, my congratulations!
It seems I won silver medal, I'm in second place.

ciao
Sergio

[bird]

oops, it's 7pm, not 7.30, sorry!

[matt]

OK.

So what time will the Bird Scar come into view tonight?

Optimum imaging time occurs when?

I'm setting up for a run tonight...jetstream or not!!! (must be mad)

Cheers:thumbsup:

PS - I'll be watching the TV, Anthony.

[kinetic]

Congratulations Anthony.
I've just seen your segment on our Adelaide Ch7 6pm bulletin.
I would like to echo the sentiments in this thread so far.
Well spotted! Well deserved and handled like a true gentleman! :)

regards,
Steve B.

[acropolite]

Ditto with the (small) segment on local Tassie TV, came on just as I was telling HRH how disappointed I was that the media weren't covering such a great story.:thumbsup: