A fireball in the atmosphere of Jupiter

This image of a fireball, created by the collision of an unknown object with the atmosphere of Jupiter, was obtained by Anthony Wesley on 3 June 2010 at 20:31 from Broken Hill (Australia) using a webcam on his 37 cm aperture home-made telescope. The impact created a short-lived white spot towards the right-hand edge of the disc of the planet. Using these observations, as well as data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope and several other ground-based telescopes, scientists have found that the impacting object seen entering the atmosphere of Jupiter was a meteoroid roughly 8–13 m in diameter.

Credit:

Anthony Wesley

About the Image

Id:ann1059a
Type:Observation
Release date:9 September 2010, 21:00
Related announcements:ann1059
Size:816 x 853 px

About the Object

Name:Jupiter
Type:Solar System : Planet : Type : Gas Giant
Solar System : Planet : Feature : Surface : Impact
Category:Solar System

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BandWavelengthTelescope
Optical
R
650 nm Other