Jupiter hit by asteroid: Caught on camera by young Brazilian Astronomer

Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, got battered again as a Brazilian observer Jose Luis Pereira captured a space rock diving into the clouds of the massive planet on September 13. According to Pereira’s interview with Space.com, the Brazilian stated that he was able to capture the event after setting up his equipment in the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo. Jupiter is known to be a target of space rocks owing to its proximity to the asteroid belt. 

Capturing the impact

As per Space.com’s report, Pereira memorialised the impact in his camera as he captured a bright flash around the massive Jupiter. Fortunately enough, he had set up his equipment to shoot and make videos of his favourite planet which he had planned to send to the DeTeCt program. This program basically spots and characterise impacts on the giant planet. 

Pereira reportedly captured a total of 25 videos of Jupiter with no time gap between any of them, despite the weather being unfavourable. He said that initially, he didn’t pay much attention to an unusual glow on the planet that was captured in the first video itself and sent it to the DeTeCt program. Pereira further revealed that he came to know about the incident in the morning, after experts from the program informed about the probable impact Jupiter must have experienced. The possibility was later confirmed by Marc Delcroix of the French Astronomical Society about the recording of an asteroid collision on Jupiter. 

Jupiter’s history with collisions

Jupiter has been vulnerable to collisions for a long time because of its extreme closeness to the asteroid belt. The asteroid belt is the region that starts after the fourth planet Mars. Besides, Jupiter also invites such collisions as its massively strong gravity attracts the asteroids into itself. 

Among countless space rocks that have hit Jupiter, Comet Shoemaker Levy9 was an asteroid that pounded the planet in 1994, leaving scars of the impact on clouds of Jupiter, lasting for months. 15 years later, another asteroid reportedly dived into Jupiter that caused a scar the size of the pacific ocean on the planet’s clouds.

Image: Twitter/@insta_science