Brazilian amateur astronomer sees an unknown body falling on Jupiter
An amateur astronomer in Brazil has recorded a new collision of Jupiter with an unknown object, which could be a small comet or asteroid about 100 meters in size.
The event was confirmed by observations by other astronomers who also noticed the outbreak on the planet.
Jupiter is often bombarded by various bodies such as asteroids or cometary nuclei, which are recorded by both ground observers and spacecraft.
The most famous cases of collisions of large bodies with a gas giant were the fall on Jupiter of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet in 1994 and an unidentified comet nucleus in 2009.
Such events are capable of creating dark trails in the planet's clouds, resulting from the destruction of the shock body in the planet's atmosphere, which can exist for a long time.
On September 13, 2021, at 22:39:30 UTC, the Brazilian amateur astronomer José Luis Pereira, using his 27.5 cm reflector telescope, discovered a new case of a body falling on Jupiter
The signal looked like a bright flash and it was visible for two seconds.
The flare was recorded at Jupiterian latitude 106.9° and longitude +3.8 ° and was confirmed by other amateur astronomers.
It is assumed that it could be an asteroid about a hundred meters in size or a small comet nucleus.
At the moment there is no evidence that the collision left a dark trail in Jupiter's atmosphere.
Source:
- Sky & Telescope.org: https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/amateur-spots-possible-new-impact-flash-at-jupiter/
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