These NASA Hubble Space Telescope snapshots reveal an impact scar on Jupiter fading from view over several months between July 2009 and November 2009.
The Hubble image of Jupiter's full disk was taken July 23, 2009, revealing an elongated, dark spot at lower, right (inside the rectangular box).
The photograph was taken four days after an amateur astronomer first spotted the scar. The unexpected blemish was created when an unknown object plunged into Jupiter and exploded, scattering debris into the giant planet's cloud tops. The strike was equal to the explosion of a few thousand standard nuclear bombs.
The series of close-up images at right, taken between July 23, 2009 and Nov. 3, 2009, show the impact site rapidly disappearing. Jupiter's winds also are spreading the debris into intricate swirls.
To determine the nature of the culprit that smacked Jupiter, astronomers compared the Hubble images of the 2009 impact site with Hubble photographs of the Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) assault on Jupiter in July 1994. In the SL9 collision, more than 20 pieces of a known comet bombarded Jupiter.
Based on that comparison, astronomers say the intruder may have been a rogue asteroid about 1,600 feet (500 meters) wide. The images of the 2009 impact, therefore, may show for the first time the immediate aftermath of an asteroid striking another planet.
One clue pointing to a possible asteroid strike is the swiftly vanishing impact site, which may be due to a lack of lightweight particles in the debris. An asteroid collision may produce fewer fine particles than a strike by a dusty comet.
The impact site's elongated shape also indicates that the object descended from a shallower angle than the SL9 fragments.
The natural-color images are composites made from separate exposures in blue, green, and red light.
Credits
NASA, ESA, M. H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), H. B. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.), I. de Pater (University of California, Berkeley), and the Jupiter Impact Team| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Jupiter |
| Object Description | Planet |
| Distance | The semi-major axis of Jupiter's orbit about the Sun is 5.2 astronomical units (483 million miles or 778 million km). On July 23, 2009 Jupiter was 381 million miles from Earth. On November 3, 2009 Jupiter was 447 million miles away from Earth. |
| Dimensions | The planet has a diameter of roughly 88,789 miles (142,984 km) at the equator. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | The image was created from Hubble data from proposals and : H. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.), A. Simon-Miller (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), J. Clarke (Boston University), I. de Pater (University of California, Berkeley), K. Noll (STScI), G. Orton (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), A. Sanchez-Lavega (University of the Basque Country, Spain), and M. Wong (University of California, Berkley); and proposal : I. de Pater, P. Marcus, X. Asay-Davis, and M. Wong (University of California, Berkeley), and C. Go (University of San Carlos). |
| Instrument | HST>WFC3/UVIS |
| Exposure Dates | 2009: July 23, August 3, August 8, September 23, and November 3 |
| Filters | FQ437N (437 nm), Q508N (508nm), and FQ634N (634 nm) |
| About The Image | |
| Color Info | The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFC3 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Three filters were used to sample narrow wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: FQ437N (437 nm) Green: Q508N (508nm) Red: FQ634N (634 nm) |
| Compass Image |  |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
