Jupiter got smacked. Again.
Quite frankly, I鈥檓 stunned.
An Australian amateur astronomer has just observed his second 鈥榦nce-in-a-lifetime鈥� event: .
Phil Plait was , describing it as a 鈥渕ajor coincidence,鈥� and he ain鈥檛 wrong!
Anthony Wesley鈥檚 first event was of what was thought to have been the immediate aftermath of a comet impact in the Jovian atmosphere.
His second happened on Thursday at 20:31 UTC when he was observing Jupiter when something hit the atmosphere, generating a huge fireball. (see NASA simulation video below).
IN PICTURES: Awesome Jupiter photos
It is not known whether this event was caused by a comet or asteroid, but in a bizarre case of serendipity, earlier on Thursday .
The July 2009 鈥渂ruise鈥� in the gas giant鈥檚 atmosphere is now thought to have been caused by an asteroid, and not a comet.
The Hubble press release included details on how researchers deduced that it was actually more likely that a 500 meter-wide asteroid hit Jupiter in 2009.
One clue was that newly installed cameras on the space telescope detected little dust in the halo surrounding the impact site 鈥� a characteristic that was detected after the impact of the shards of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994.
Also, the calculated trajectory of the 2009 event indicated the object didn鈥檛 have an orbit commonly associated with comets.
If the 2009 event was an asteroid, that means Wesley saw something never seen before: the site of a recent asteroid impact on a celestial body.
And now, less than a year after being the first to see that impact aftermath, Wesley has done it again.
Another amateur astronomer, Christopher Go, was quick to confirm Thursday鈥檚 fireball in Jupiter鈥檚 upper atmosphere.
These impact events serve as a reminder about Jupiter鈥檚 fortuitous role in our Solar System.
As the gas giant is so massive, its gravitational pull has a huge influence over the outer planets, dwarf planets, comets and asteroids.
Acting like an interplanetary 鈥榲acuum cleaner鈥� Jupiter can block potentially disastrous chunks of stuff from taking a dive into the inner Solar System. It is thought that this distant planet has helped Earth become the thriving world it is today, preventing many asteroids and comets from ruining our evolution.
Thank you Jupiter!
Ian O'Neill blogs at AstroEngine.
