This violent explosion on Jupiter was seen from Earth – Sciences et Avenir

ODDS. March 17, 2016, at 2:18 (Paris time) a violent explosion on the surface of Jupiter was recorded by amateur astronomers. “The The objective of this assignment was simply to make a time-lapse, the impact was only a happy coincidence ” explains John McKeon, author of one of the videos (captured since Ireland) showing the event. It shows indeed a violent explosion on the surface of the giant planet, following the impact of an asteroid or comet. An explosion so spectacular that it was possible to distinguish it clearly from Earth, using a single telescope 28 cm. The asteroid impacts on the planets are very common. Every year, the Earth and receives between 100 and 1000 tonnes of rocky material from space. And our planet is regularly grazed by small asteroids. Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system (its mass is 318 times greater than that of the Earth), acts as a magnet for stray asteroids in our solar system. The impact observed on Jupiter’s surface is not the first of its kind. In 1994, telescopes around the world had followed the approach of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which, after having dislocated into several fragments, came crashing on the gas giant during the month of July. It was an opportunity to study, for the first time at the time, the speed of propagation of seismic waves, consecutive to the impact, or to track down the ejected material. These violent impacts will leave traces of their passage for months in the form of dark marks on the surface of Jupiter. But this was of an impact of large fragments from a few hundred meters to several kilometers.

Another astronomer has also recorded the event live, to using a telescope of only 20 cm from Austria.

sIZE. What size was the asteroid or comet that struck Jupiter 17 March 2016? “ Given the short and brightness of the flash, I’m sure it was not very big, probably no more than ten meters ” says amateur astronomer Phil Plait on his blog. A rock 10 meters only could it cause such explosion visible from Earth? “ This may seem small, but keep in mind that Jupiter has a very large gravity, and that velocity is critical here ” he explains. “ On average, an object will collide with Jupiter a rate five times greater than it would by hitting the Earth, so that the energy of impact is 25 times more “does figure. “ Remember that the meteorite Chelyabinsk in Russia in 2013 only measured 19 meters in diameter he continues. And it exploded, releasing energy equivalent to 500,000 tons of TNT. Multiply that by 25 and you understand why even the impact of a small rock is visible from Earth . ”