Impact on Jupiter surprises skywatchers

Photographers capture an impact on Jupiter

Observers around the globe were surprised on September 13, 2021, when they witnessed an apparent impact on the giant planet Jupiter. A bright flash of light distracted them from their observing target: an ongoing transit of the shadow of the Jovian moon Io across the face of Jupiter. A couple of lucky astrophotographers managed to snap images of the flash.

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The image at top comes from Germany. Harald Paleske told SpaceWeather.com he was watching the dark shadow of Io cross onto Jupiter’s surface when the burst of light startled him. He said:

A bright flash of light surprised me. It could only be an impact.

Paleske had been taking a video of the transit of Io’s shadow when the event occurred. He looked over his video frames, searching for a satellite or plane that might have shown up as the bright patch. But he found no evidence that the event happened close to Earth or that’s he’d witnessed an earthly event with Jupiter as mere backdrop. He timed the event as happening at 22:39:27 UTC on September 13 and lasting for two seconds.

Another astronomer, José Luis Pereira of Brazil, also captured the flash from the impact. ESA Operations tweeted his photo via Flickr.

Light on at Jupiter! Anyone home? This bright impact flash was spotted yesterday on the giant planet by astronomer José Luis Pereira.

Not a lot of info on the impacting object yet but its likely to be large and/or fast!

Thanks Jupiter for taking the hit??#PlanetaryDefence pic.twitter.com/XLFzXjW4KQ

— ESA Operations (@esaoperations) September 14, 2021

A French astrophotographer, J.P. Arnould, also captured the surprising event.

Impact Flash on Jupiter confirmed by at least 2 amateur astronomers: H. Paleske in Germany & by J.P. Arnould in France. See attached images & for more info about past Jupiter impact events: https://t.co/VIpSt2TQfn #astronomy #jupiter #impact pic.twitter.com/0kMP7iRMao

— Ernesto Guido (@comets77) September 14, 2021

What hit Jupiter?

It’s too soon to know, but a comet or asteroid would be the most likely culprit. As Spaceweather.com said:

An asteroid in the 100-meter size range (about 300 feet) would do the trick.

Skywatchers with telescopes from all parts of Earth are poised to view Jupiter following the impact. They’re hoping to spot a dark mark or temporary scar resulting from the impact. That’s what happened during the best-known impacts on Jupiter, which happened in July of 1994. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 blazed a path directly toward Jupiter. Professional observatories were ready to catch the resulting collision. Shoemaker-Levy 9 left an entire trail of debris across the gas giant planet, as Jupiter’s intense tidal forces tore it to pieces.

Bottom line: An impact on Jupiter on September 13, 2021, has stargazers looking skyward to see if they can spot any lingering evidence of the event.