Wesley's Jupiter Impactor an Asteriod

[CraigS]

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

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

[iceman (Mike)]

They should name the asteroid after him!

[CraigS]

Originally Posted by iceman

They should name the asteroid after him!

Yes .. I reckon its Anthony's !

Maybe he now owns a part of Jupiter, as well !


Does that also mean that Australia could lay claim to Jupiter ?


Cheers
PS: Oops !! .. I forgot the Galileo probe which NASA dropped into Jupiter's atmosphere in Dec 1995 … pipped at the post, again !

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by CraigS

Yes .. I reckon its Anthony's !

Maybe he now owns a part of Jupiter, as well !


Does that also mean that Australia could lay claim to Jupiter ?


Cheers
PS: Oops !! .. I forgot the Galileo probe which NASA dropped into Jupiter's atmosphere in Dec 1995 … pipped at the post, again !

What about SL-9 (1994)....Dave Levy was at his home in the US when he spied it. But I think Gene Shoemaker was out here when he found it first. So we'll make Gene a (posthumous) honorary Australian citizen and claim the planet

[mswhin63 (Malcolm)]

Thank goodness that Jupiter swept it up. Can you imagine if it hit here. I hope the floating lifeforms on Jupiter managed to get out of the way.

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by renormalised

What about SL-9 (1994)....Dave Levy was at his home in the US when he spied it. But I think Gene Shoemaker was out here when he found it first. So we'll make Gene a (posthumous) honorary Australian citizen and claim the planet

Correction: David Levy and Gene Shoemaker photographed the area on the night of the discovery, Carolyn Shoemaker found whilst scanning the resultant photographs, all comets with the Shoemaker-Levy designation were all credited to Carolyn and David.
They used the 16" Schmidt camera at Mt Palomar.
A by-product of searching for NEO's!

[renormalised (Carl)]

Originally Posted by Outbackmanyep

Correction: David Levy and Gene Shoemaker photographed the area on the night of the discovery, Carolyn Shoemaker found whilst scanning the resultant photographs, all comets with the Shoemaker-Levy designation were all credited to Carolyn and David.
They used the 16" Schmidt camera at Mt Palomar.
A by-product of searching for NEO's!

Thank you for the correction....in any case since Gene was the professional scientist here...and professionals take precedence over amateurs, , and Gene spent lots of time out here and we make him a honorary citizen of Oz, that gives us dibs on the planet

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by renormalised

Thank you for the correction....in any case since Gene was the professional scientist here...and professionals take precedence over amateurs, , and Gene spent lots of time out here and we make him a honorary citizen of Oz, that gives us dibs on the planet

Agree to that!

[CraigS]

Ok … done !

We can levy a fee upon all the other countries of the world everytime we observe Jupiter doing its clean-up job … the astronomer who witnesses such an event will be entitled to a slice of the action !

Now there's some motivation for Oz amateur astronomers !



Cheers