Wataru Arimatsu, an astronomer at Kyoto University in Japan, received an interesting email a few weeks ago. An amateur astronomer from his country had discovered a bright flash in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Dr. Arimatsu runs the company. observation program If you want to use your backyard astronomy equipment to study the outer reaches of our solar system, give us a call for more information. Six more reports of the August 28 flash, which Arimatsu says was one of the brightest ever recorded on a gas giant, have come in from Japanese skywatchers. It was done.
Such flashes are caused by asteroids and comets impacting Jupiter’s atmosphere from the edge of the solar system. “Even with the most advanced telescopes, it is virtually impossible to observe these objects directly,” Dr. Arimatsu wrote in an email. But Jupiter’s gravity attracts these objects and they eventually collide with Jupiter, making them a “unique and valuable tool to study Jupiter directly,” he said.
Characterizing these flashes is an important way to understand the history of the solar system. Lee Fletcher, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester in the UK, said they “give us a glimpse into the violent processes that were occurring in the early days of our solar system.” It’s “like actually watching the evolution of a planet,” he added.
Today, powerful collisions with Jupiter are much rarer, but they do occur. In 1994, a comet collided with Jupiter with too much force That left a visible field of debris. Astronomers observed an even bigger effect in 2009.
Most collisions with Jupiter, the fifth planet in our solar system, are witnessed opportunistically by amateur astronomers. (According to Dr. Arimatsu, eight of the nine flashes observed on Jupiter since 2010 were reported by amateurs.) Typically, they use a technique called . lucky imagingshoot a video of a part of the sky at a high frame rate.
Dr Fletcher said these frames contained a “trove of data” from which professional astronomers could infer information about Jupiter’s atmosphere, weather and storms.
Dr. Arimatsu’s initial analysis suggests that the flash reported in August had an impact comparable to the Tunguska explosion in Siberia in 1908. tore up 800 square miles of forest. According to Dr. Arimatsu, this is the second Jupiter event observed with this much energy in the past 10 years. Last of 2021with an estimated energy equivalent to 2 megatons of TNT.
Still, Fletcher said the impact was not strong enough to leave a visible debris field. Scientists study such signatures to learn how Jupiter’s chemistry and temperature interact. Similar collisions may have once been important in producing the planetary compositions seen in our solar system, and perhaps other solar systems as well, he added.
Astronomers focus on Jupiter because it is large, easy to see, and susceptible to cosmic debris. However, some scientists believe that Saturn’s rings were once formed by such an explosion. preliminary evidence It shows that Uranus and Neptune also collided.
“If I were a gambler, I would say that all of our giant planets have been hit by asteroids and comets,” Dr. Fletcher said.
Stargazers are waiting for the next big flash, one that will produce enough debris to be visible from Earth. If that happens, astronomers from around the world will aim their telescopes at Jupiter to study the fallout, and the James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope are likely to join as well.
But since Wink in Space was captured by chance, amateurs are actually taking the lead in this field of research. “You can’t use a big professional telescope for hours every night,” Dr. Fletcher said. “To make that happen, we need dedicated backyard astronomers around the world.”
Dr. Arimatsu also emphasizes the importance of small-scale astronomy efforts in a field crowded with large-scale projects. “This is an important part of the scientific community, but it’s often overlooked,” he says.