[meteorite-list] Possible Impact Event on Jupiter?

lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu
Tue Jul 21 19:58:50 EDT 2009


Hi Mark:

For Earth, 20 times (give or take), not 50.

This new spot, from what I can tell, looks to be on the small end of the
SL9 impactors, so we are talking about under a kilometer in diameter, I
would guess.

Also, it is likely that this event came in at a higher velocity than SL9
since they were actually in orbit around Jupiter at the time so hit with
velocities under 70 km/s (Jupiter has a larger gravity than Earth).

Since there is probably no way of know the exact velocity of this
impactor, the size may be hard to determine (comet or asteroid, prograde
or retrograde, etc.).

Larry

> Has anyone heard an estimate for the size of the impactor yet.
>
> If I recall correctly, for an object reaching Earth's surface with
> cosmic velocity, the rule of thumb is that the crater diameter is 50
> times the impactors diameter. I am guessing that factor for Jupiter's
> cloud layer is going to be much larger, being less dense.
>
>
>
> Ron Baalke wrote:
>> Space Weather News For July 19, 2009
>> http://spaceweather.com
>>
>> JUPITER IMPACT? On July 19th, a veteran observer of Jupiter
>> in Australia photographed a fresh dark "scar" in Jupiter's
>> cloudtops; the feature resembles the Shoemaker-Levy 9
>> impacts of 1994.  It is possible that Jupiter has been
>> struck anew by an asteroid or comet.  Astrophotographers
>> around the world should train their optics on Jupiter to
>> confirm the event and monitor its progress.
>> Visit http://spaceweather.com for photos and updates.
>>
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