Major impact on Jupiter of unknown celestial body

[drclay]

[ Updated Aug. 12 - ASO photo of impact area below ]
Major impact on Jupiter of unknown celestial body

On the morning of July 19, at about 16:00 hours UT, Australian amateur astronomer ANTHONY WESLEY recorded one of the most startling unexpected finds of the modern astronomical era:  a mighty explosion on the planet JUPITER that has been apparently caused by the impact of an unknown comet or asteroid crashing into the southern pole of the giant gaseous planet.

There is now defining evidence, such as the mark's high infrared brightness in reflected sunlight, that it was caused by the impact of such an asteroid or comet. Leigh Fletcher observing from  the InfraRed Telescope Facility in Hawaii notes: "This has all the hallmarks of SL-9 in 1994 (15 years to the day!). High altitude particulates, looks nothing like weather phenom."

The spot is located in far southern latitudes, near Jupiter's System II longitude 216°.  This rotational system accounts for an estimated rotation of 9h 55m 40s. For the predicted times when it will cross the planet's central meridian, add 2 hours and 6 minutes to each of the transit times for Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
However, thanks to the major database for Jupiter observations and timings of rotational patterns, clouds and events, WinJUPOS, headed by Hans L. Metig, the following estimated times (U.T.) for the transit of THIS dark elongated object are as follows:

WinJUPOS 8.1.8 (Jupiter), C.M. transit times, 2009.07.19  19:17
Object longitude: L2 = 216,0° +  0,0000°/d * (T - 2009 Aug 01,5)
Time interval: 2009 Jul 19,0 ... 2009 Aug 01,0
Output format: Date UT (C.M. of System 2)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009 Jul 19   06:09 ( 216°)   16:05 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 20   02:00 ( 216°)   11:56 ( 216°)   21:52 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 21   07:47 ( 216°)   17:43 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 22   03:38 ( 216°)   13:34 ( 216°)   23:30 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 23   09:25 ( 216°)   19:21 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 24   05:16 ( 216°)   15:12 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 25   01:08 ( 216°)   11:03 ( 216°)   20:59 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 26   06:54 ( 216°)   16:50 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 27   02:45 ( 216°)   12:41 ( 216°)   22:37 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 28   08:32 ( 216°)   18:28 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 29   04:23 ( 216°)   14:19 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 30   00:15 ( 216°)   10:10 ( 216°)   20:06 ( 216°)
2009 Jul 31   06:01 ( 216°)   15:57 ( 216°)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If it's really the black debris from an impact object, it may possibly begin to spread longitudinally and enlarge by jet streams in the coming days.  Note that the intensity (see image, courtesy of A. Wesley) of this object allows it to be clearly seen in a modest size telescope, even visually, very near the planet's southern pole.

Dr. Clay

Note the ASO  photo below which shows the increasing expansion of the impact area (upper left edge of Jupiter); this was taken quickly at PRIME FOCUS (f/6. of the 0.51m CDK at ASO, a combination of 515 1/10th second images starting at 06:50 UT.

[sdb777]

I've been reading about this in the other forums on the 'net.  As well as the multitude of individuals trying to get a image of this great event.  Seems the clouds are rolling in on everyone, and no one is getting a look.
Have you been able to see this?
Do you think this is an isolated impact, or could more objects be closing in?(As was the case a few years back when Shoemaker-Levy did its show-okay it was more like 15 years ago, but it seems like yesterday to me)

Scott (somehow it's cloudy everywhere) B

[drclay]

Very rare and isolated indeed.....I doubt there will be any more associated objects hitting Jupiter, but with its great gravity, the chances of this happening are actually quite high.  One thing that this should drive home is the vulnerability of earth to NEO impacts.....can happen at any time.   No one even saw this one coming and it made a hole in the Jovian clouds about half the size of our Earth.

Dr. Clay