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Subscribe to RSSA Japanese amateur astronomer witnessed a flash on Jupiter over the weekend - less than three months after similar blip, apparently caused by a meteor fall, created a sensation among astronomers. The event suggests that the giant planet may be experiencing shooting stars more frequently than scientists thought, and that it's just a case of looking in the right place at the right time.
That's what Masayuki Tashikawa was doing early Saturday morning Japan time (around 18:22 GMT or 2:22 p.m. ET Friday), when he had his video-equipped telescope pointed in Jupiter's direction from Kumamoto city on the island of Kyushu. In the 4-second video clip above, the second-long flash can be seen toward the lower left, about halfway through the clip.
"I took it for noise signals at first, but I was really surprised because the image of the light remained on the video," Tashikawa told Kyodo News.
The phenomenon looks like a repeat of the flash spotted by longtime Jupiter-watchers Anthony Wesley and Christopher Go on June 3. Their observations, combined with follow-up looks by the Hubble Space Telescope, led astronomers to conclude that the flash was caused not by an exploding asteroid or comet, but instead by a fiery meteor that didn't leave a lasting mark on Jupiter's cloud tops.
Junichi Watanabe of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan notes the similarity in a blog post reporting the latest flash.
In the days ahead, professional as well as amateur astronomers will be looking for any traces left behind by this weekend's event. The preliminary verdict is that there's no visible scar - which would distinguish both of this year's observed flashes from the "Great Black Spot" impact of July 2009.
Amateur astronomers have already revolutionized the search for asteroids, and now it looks as if they're doing the same thing for the systematic monitoring of Jupiter's cloud tops. Sky & Telescope's Kelly Beatty quotes Glenn Orton, an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as saying it may be time "to establish a worldwide network of Jupiter-monitoring telescopes so that the planet can be watched 24/7."
Beatty also points out that more observations would be useful to confirm that the flash truly came from Jupiter and not from the random glint of an Earth-orbiting satellite. Let's hope this latest news flash will spark confirmation of this weekend's event - and future flashy finds.
Update for 1:10 a.m. ET Aug.. 23: SpaceWeather.com passes along a confirmatory series of pictures from another Japanese amateur astronomer, Aoki Kazuo of Tokyo. The 500-mile (800-kilometer) separation of the two observers "rules out an event near Earth and reinforces the association of the flash with Jupiter," SpaceWeather.com's Tony Phillips writes.
For more on the flash:
- Twitter updates from German science writer Daniel Fischer (Tip o' the Log)
- Gish Bar Times: Fireball spotted in Jupiter's atmosphere ... again
- Planetary Society Blog: Yet another Jupiter impact?
- SpaceWeather.com is on the watch for updates and images
Join the Cosmic Log corps by signing up as my Facebook friend or hooking up on Twitter with @b0yle. And if you really want to be friendly, ask me about "The Case for Pluto."
Leave a Comment:
That site to which you link looks like the classical writings of a person with schizophrenia I advise seeking expert and professional help.
Please note this is not done out of spite but rather honest concern.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-wJNpWgss8
Do we link this event with the leonids? Should we be watching jupiter a bit more closely through the lens during the next meteor storm? What about mars, did the rovers see anything? I guess soho and company are mostly staring into the sun, it would be nice to know if anyone discerns meteor events within that collection of data. I know it is a stretch to link jups events with ours but I though it was a bit more in line than usual for this shower and even last week I was wondering how far the debris field which causes our event extends out into the solar system. I will try to check back for answers with objectivity about this time tomorrow. All else are replying to themselves. thank you.
I did a quick look at major meteor showers for Earth and could not find any that would also cause showers at Jupiter or Mars. Most of our meteor showers are caused by comets and for all the major ones I looked at the comet causing our showers is and an inclined orbit so they do not leave a trail of debris in Jupiter's orbit. We have many meteor showers that are on a regular schedule caused by comets that crossed our orbit many years (centuries) ago that we can not attribute a comet to.
There are many comets that do not cross our orbit so do not cause meteor showers for us. So it is likely there are many comets that cross Jupiter's orbit and cause meteor showers on Jupiter. What I would like to see is an estimate of the size of the object that could have caused the flash. To be visible from Earth it had to be bigger than the dust specs that cause the majority of our meteor showers.
Personally, I think the reason we are seeing more events on Jupiter is not that more are happening but more people are looking. The film in the article was by an amateur and the confirmation was also by an amateur. Good telescopes with good computer imaging devices are getting to be very inexpensive so more people are watching. Jupiter is an interesting target because it doesn't take much of a telescope to see detail.
I second the Sr. Chief's reply - all aces.
Is there something heading our way? There seems to be a dramatic rise in impacts in the last year.Just call it morbid curiosity,but I really don't remeber seeing this many asteroid strikes on the planets around us.
Surely Obama is involved in this some how.
must be global warming.
Yes, Chris..there is: see my post -- feel free to scoff or pray. Bill
I hope this is an indicator of just how well Jupiter acts as a meteor/comet vacuum cleaner providing some protection for the inner planets. Maybe a pipe dream.
I`m glad we have Saturn and Jupiter to take these impacts for our planet. If we didn`t have them we would be in a world of hurt.
That guy who posted that link is probably a member of abovetopsecret too....
aliens are real.............
yaaay its the first launch of their program to come here to cure cancer, end war and fix the economy
Probably more likely to get rid of us and start all over since we are hell bent on destroying ourselves and our enviroment .
I love astronomy. It's very exciting to know that the astronomers of the world, both pros and amateurs, have their cameras trained on these distant bodies at all times. We are seeing more and more events these days because of it. Keep those telescopes aimed upward!!! Or outward, I suppose is more correct...
uh...guys....I really hate to mention this....but HG Wells' WAR OF THE WORLDS starts off with unexplained flashes on the surface of mars. months later, WHAM-O the martians have landed in Surrey and still more flashes are being seen on the red planet....sure, sure, you're going to say it's a work of fiction..or is it the GREATEST COVERUP MANKIND HAS EVER KNOWN?
I think it's time to be afraid, be very afraid.
There could be life on Jupiter.
I'm still bitter about what they did to Pluto.
In watching the video linked to this story, does anyone else notice that you can see a small black object flying towards Jupiter just previous to the flash. It appears to be on the same trajectory as the flash itself. Maybe caught the falling object itself?
Im seriously asking if anyone noticed, Im not trying to promote aliens in the attic here. :)
Yes Ben, it is obviously a space craft entering orbit. If you watch at the 8 o clock position relative to the entry, you will see the exit 3 tenths of a second later. Run it slow motion and you will see.
I dont understand is it solid immediately under the cloud cover or is that an object exploding or what
This was probably like the 1908 Tunguska comet in Siberia that exploded without hitting the ground.
Astronomer's models of Jupiter says that its atmosphere gets thicker as you go down until it basically becomes a liquid. The core is expected to be solid with an estimated diameter one and half time of Earth's but ten times the mass.
I feel sorry for anyone living in the blast zone
Is it just me or is Jupiter upside down in this video? All my life I have seen pictures of Jupiter and the great red storm was in the southern half of Jupiter and the lost belt was in the southern half of Jupiter.
Telescopes invert the image. The pictures you normally see have been flipped to fix it. These have not.
I don't think this is a problem we should be worried about, it's been going on ever since Luke Abner invented the telescope.
Obvoisly aliens landing on Jupiter? They have slight entry burn causing the light display. No visible crater. Check the exit burn at 8 o clock to the entry flash. run it slow motion you will see the craft exit.
So, the largest planet of the NINE in our system is under attack; by masses from the heavens. Just as in 1994 when Shoemaker - Levy NINE plowed into it. As above; so below is a Truth from the dawn of consciousness; that most of us are unaware of. But, it is written, "...yet once more, I will shake the earth and the heavens"... hmmmm, I wonder who has the power to do such a thing.
Lest we forget, the point of no return for the Great Tribulation is a massive earthquake. Of course, you say - they are happening all over the world; so, what's the big deal. The big deal is when the big One hits and IF it hits (b)abylon (read, hollywood land) the entire Pacific Ring of Fire will be in such an upheaval that the islands will be moved out of their places. But that says nothing about the chaos, terror and lack of food, water, safety for a whole bunch of people.
Then, as above, so below - it is written: " ...I saw something like a mountain burning with fire thrown into the sea". IF this is the east Atlantic (as some predict) the u.s. of a. is going to take two hits from West and East; and God only knows where the third one will be coming from. Most likely that huge, mostly dormant (except when its not) volcano that they built Mexico city around; will blow up and the survivors are going to come north en masse.
So, succor yourselves that 'science' can 'splain' and name what is happening in the sky; if you must. But the labeling and so called explanations mean no-thing. It is the end of the age of the Gentiles; which means God is closing out the books about who gets saved and who doesn't. Then, it is written: ..."let the good people remain good and let the bad people stay bad" - I would not want to be numbered in that latter group.
Yes I see, Fear is the modivation for your God, sorry to break it to you but You, I and all humans DO NOT HAVE FREE WILL, We cannot with an Omnipotent God,
Here is a suggestion, you have your faith that is good and I am happy for you but please refrain from posting your religious Dogma based on a 2k year old book in a Science article.
Why did you post your religious comments? Was it because Science makes you uncomfortable or because you enjoy telling us Non-believers how we will burn?
Seriously keep it to a ontopic discussion or start your own thread.
I hate to even suggest this, but how easy would this be to fake? Especially if the expectation is for 'no visible evidence' after the fact. Notoriety can be a powerful motivator.
To have an observable flash of that size would take a pretty big rock... There just doesnt seem to be that many big rocks left in our solar system for it to happen every 3 months, on our half of the planet...
I guess this means we really do need more eyes on jupiter...
to Karen: No this would not be any indication of, global warming. You would need something like, say 11 of the last 13 years the warmest on record or maybe,. oh like this year the warmest on record. You know. Like it actually is.
"The event suggests that the giant planet may be experiencing shooting stars more frequently than scientists thought"
I can't believe the writer used the term "shooting stars" to describe meteors.
g
Ganimedes, one of jupiter's moons, is the place to point the telescopes. Look close and you will find the answer about the eternal question, are we alone in the universe?
There's no "upside-down" in space. The thing is we live in a "North-Centric" society (thus we perceive South as "upside-down").
We have Jupiter to thank for sweeping the plane of our orbits with its gravitational pull, like a dust mop.
Wonder if they will be watching us on 12/21/2012 when the asteroid in our inner orbit unswept by the
Jupiter Pickerupper decides to pay us a visit, ... or two. Listen for the sound of one thunderbolt clapping.
It's not the flash on Jupiter that is so amazing to me as much as all the stupid people on here who are trying to sound as though they are intelligent with their long posts and astronomical "facts." Booorrrrrrring.
Joe,
We are all really glad you didn't try to sound intelligent!