On August 29, MASA Planetary Log captured the exact moment when a meteorite hit Jupiter.
Astronomy is a discipline that interests many people. Amateur or amateur astronomers explore space with their optical devices in search of unknown space bodies. Just a week ago, a group of experts of this class managed to capture the moment when a meteorite collided with Jupiter.
Before unraveling the unknowns of this scientific event you have to know the differences between meteorite, comet and asteroid. The three bodies have similarities, but they are not the same. A meteorite is a rock that falls within the atmosphere or gravitational radius of a planet.
Jupiter falls from 12 to 60 meteorites per year
Returning to the subject, the news has come to light via Twitter. The official profile of MASA Planetary Log, directed by an amateur astronomer, shared on the social network (now called X) the moment in which a space rock hit the surface of the planet, which is 587 million kilometers from Earth.
On social networks and on the web in general, more amateur astronomers have confirmed the impact, as has the network of telescopes based in Japan made up of the “Organized Autotelescopes for Chance Event Studies” (OASES). The moment was captured on August 28 at 12:45 p.m..
The video that has been shared on X has a decent resolution and is only four seconds long. In it you can see how in the upper part of the planet, right almost in the middle you can suddenly see a beam of light that disappears quickly. This has been the moment in which the meteorite has hit the gas giant.
Although, and as indicated in Interesting Engineeringit is not uncommon for space objects to collide with Jupiter in a range that goes from 12 to 60 times in a year, if it is being able to capture the precise moment when they do it. To get an idea, the best documented case occurred almost 30 years ago, in 1994 and was the work of NASA.
on this occasion the images that are available are not of as high quality as thenIt is normal, the technology is not the same, but it is also very interesting to have this data.
きのうのTLで知った木星の閃光、撮影したデータを確認してみたら写っていました。
…声が出ました(^^;
日本時間2023年8月29日1:45、世界時28日16:45です。https://t.co/UYhnvAmA63https://t.co/Y7nCHtJq4k pic.twitter.com/g0FerdyoVg— MASS Planetary Log (@MASA_06R) August 29, 2023
Some of the readers may be thinking or wondering about the size of the rock that hit Jupiter on August 28. No calculations have been done yet. but we risk saying that it was big. If it has been captured from this far away, it must have been a sizeable rock. However, we must wait for the results.
Finally, it must be said that meteorites will continue to be one of the phenomena and space objects that most attract attention. Science fiction and cinema have addressed many stories with them as protagonists. What’s more, NASA announced that Armageddon is possible. On the other hand they are knowledge tools to explore space. Like this meteorite that fell 100 years ago and it is the oldest on Earth.