Bright, Earth-sized, fireball slams into Jupiter
After being hit hard by a 500-meter-wide asteroid last year, Jupiter has once again been hit by a bright, Earth-sized fireball rising above the planet's atmosphere on June 3 at 4:31 p. m. ET - the two impacts, hot on the heels of each other put to question the astronomers' belief that Jupiter impacts are very rare.
While the images showing the "bruise" of the last year collision of the asteroid with Jupiter have been captured by the Hubble telescope, the slamming of a space rock this time round was captured by Australia's Anthony Wesley and Philippines' Christopher Go.
Referring to the pictures and video that show the bright fireball slamming into Jupiter, Heidi Hammel, from the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, said: "The data-independently confirmed by two well-respected amateurs-seem robust, and the flare certainly bears all the characteristics of a Jovian 'bolide,' or impact."
Meanwhile, in order to see what kind of `scar' has been left behind on Jupiter after the recent collision, and to ascertain what the bright fireball actually was, scientists are getting professional as well as amateur astronomers to steer their telescopes towards the planet.
In the opinion of most experts, the collision would likely have resulted in a dark debris field in Jupiter's clouds - quite like the last year impact site - which might become visible in the coming few days.
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