Recently, a celestial object collided with Jupiter, the undisputed king of the planets, releasing a short but sharp flash of energy. Objects collide with Jupiter more frequently than any other planet in the solar system, making it rather unusual for scientists to record actual collisions. Remarkably, this recent collision was accidentally photographed by an amateur astronomer.
The effect was first discovered at 1:45 am on August 29, Japan Standard Time (4:45 pm on August 28, UTC) by the Okinawa-based astronomical observation projects OASES and PONCOTS.in social media postsHe issued a message saying, “If you were observing Jupiter at the same time, please check the shooting data again, and if you find a flash, please report it via TL or DM of this account!” .
Shortly after, the MASA Planetary Log replied with some images showing the dramatic impact.
“When I woke up in the morning and opened X (Twitter), there was information that a flash was observed on the surface of Jupiter. That night, when I checked the video at that time, I saw a flash.” MASA Planetary Log account official said space dot com.
“We were very fortunate to be able to photograph this phenomenon as it happened,” they added.
There is currently no information as to how large the object was, but it is clearly large enough to cause quite a spectacle.
Jupiter frequently collides with celestial bodies due to its proximity to the solar system’s asteroid belt and its enormous gravitational pull that pulls passing objects into a sink like marble.
a 2013 survey It has been suggested that Jupiter is hit about 12 to 60 times each year by objects 5 to 20 meters (16.5 to 65 feet) in diameter. Objects over 100 meters (328 feet) can collide with Jupiter every few years. This is about 10,000 times the rate at which similar objects hit Earth.
Don’t pity Jupiter too much, though. Thanks to its huge mass and strong gravitational pull, gas giants command a huge number of asteroids within our solar system. Often this protects the Earth and other inner planets from rogue objects, but it can also mean that Jupiter is a dangerous entity. occasionally throw asteroids Or a comet is coming towards us.
Astronomers have captured the moment of impact with this gas giant several times. The first example occurred in 1994 when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with a gas giant, making history as the first direct observation of two of her bodies colliding in the solar system.
Since then, as of 2021, at least eight more Jupiter collisions have been observed. This includes a particularly spectacular crash in September 2021.