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Old 27-01-2011, 10:19 AM
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CraigS
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Australia
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Wesley's Jupiter Impactor an Asteriod

In the News this morning, it looks like they've confirmed Anthony Wesley's object, which impacted Jupiter on July 19, 2009, to be an Asteroid:

New evidence that asteroid, not comet, struck Jupiter in 2009

Quote:
A hurtling asteroid about the size of the Titanic caused the scar that appeared in Jupiter's atmosphere on July 19, 2009, according to two papers published recently in the journal Icarus.

By piecing together signatures of the gases and dark debris produced by the impact shockwaves, an international team of scientists was able to deduce that the object was more likely a rocky asteroid than an icy comet.
...
The new conclusion is also consistent with evidence from results from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope indicating the impact debris in 2009 was heavier or denser than debris from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, the last known object to hurl itself into Jupiter's atmosphere in 1994.
They're estimating the density at around 2.5 grams per cubic centimetres.

Cheers
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