Devastating Impact On Jupiter 9-10-2012
Posted on 09/12/2012 2:41:21 PM PDT by LibWhacker
On Monday, Jupiter took a massive hit from a meteor, which was spotted by amateur astronomers based in the US—and if previous evidence is anything to go by, it could have saved Earth from a massive collision in the process.
Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin, was gazing at Jupiter on Monday when he saw a bright, white flash on the surface of the planet. When he posted his observation online, another astrophotographer, George Hall, discovered he'd unknowingly captured the massive explosion on video.
Turns out it was probably a meteor striking the surface of the planet—and you can watch the video below. In fact, this is evidence of Jupiter's protective effect as far as Earth is concerned. Because the planet is so massive Jupiter's gravitational field sucks a great many asteroids and comets towards it, which means that there are fewer threats to our humble little planet.
Which is just as well: a similar metoer strike in 2009 caused a bruise on the face of Jupiter the size of the Pacific Ocean. [George 1985 via Space]
Short YouTube video of the impact
Jupiter is our friend. All we have to do is leave Europa alone.
Well said!
Most of the objects which encounter Jupiter get tossed and more often than not leave the Solar System; a much smaller number have their trajectories altered by the big planet such that they will eventually smash into the planet — such was the case with SL9, and probably with this object as well; a tiny fraction wind up encountering Jupiter once or more than once, and their trajectories altered such that they wind up in orbit around it during a future encounter. Jupiter has more than 60 moons, with many of them in retrograde.
Before anyone brings it up as if it’s some kind of cutting criticism, the size of those retrograde moons is entirely beside the point.
Anyway, it’s almost as if the whole thing is a series of random encounters by a inanimate objects. :’)
Another ‘extra, extra’ to APoD members — and pretty soon I’ll catch up on the *actual* APoD posts. [blush]
Good Ol’ Jupiter.
Not just a big useless gasbag after all.
Ow!
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