Amateur Astronomer Spies a Fresh Impact Scar on Jupiter

[leo-rcc]

Amateur Astronomer Spies a Fresh Impact Scar on Jupiter
Follow-up observations on large telescopes confirm that something hit the gas giant

By John Matson

A backyard astronomer in Australia made a major discovery early Monday morning when he noticed a newly formed spot on Jupiter—a spot that academics and NASA astronomers have now confirmed marks a recent impact on the giant planet.

Anthony Wesley of Murrumbateman had a new 14.5-inch Newtonian telescope at his home observatory trained on Jupiter when he noticed something unusual: a dark spot on the planet's outer layers that had not been there two days before. Because its location, size and rotation speed did not jibe with any of Jupiter's moons or their shadows, nor with any of its known atmospheric features, a feasible explanation eluded him. Observed massive impacts from comets or asteroids are extremely rare—when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter in 1994, it was an unprecedented event watched intently from countless observatories.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/artic ... r-new-spot

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I love it when an amateur beats the professionals with their huge resources to the punch on something like this. Astronomy is one of the few fields of science where you can still make an important discovery in your garden shed.