An unidentified object struck the planet Jupiter on Tuesday at 12:39 a.m. KST.
This meeting was discovered by José Luis Pereira, a Brazilian amateur astronomer in the state of São Paulo.
The cosmic collision was then confirmed by two other observers: Harald Paleske in Germany and Jean-Paul Arnould of the Lorraine Astronomical Society (SLA) in France.
The ALS team even managed to record the impact, reports
Futura-Sciences
.
It was a flash of light on the surface of the giant planet that allowed observers to spot the collision.
On the images published on YouTube, we can clearly see a flash of light that lasts about two seconds.
However, it is difficult to know what type of object may have encountered Jupiter: is it a comet, an asteroid or something else?
"An asteroid of a hundred meters would do the trick," according to spaceweather.com.
Impact on #Jupiter 💥
Yesterday evening a member of the Lorraine Astronomical Society, Jean-Paul Arnould, recorded a rare event, a luminous flash on the surface of Jupiter.
The phenomenon occurred on 09/13/2021 at 10:39:30 p.m. TU @safastrofrance @cieletespace pic.twitter.com/2r8nGDn6dh
- Astronomy 54 (SLA) (@ astronomie54) September 14, 2021
At least eight other impacts observed over the past two decades
In order to learn more about this cosmic collision, people who photographed Jupiter around the time of impact are invited to examine their data.
Observers are also expected to continue imaging the impact area in the coming days.
The objective is to determine if a dark spot is visible.
Indeed, such spots had been identified in July 1994. They had been produced by the impact of fragments of comet Shoemaker-Leve, which had encountered the planet Jupiter on its path that year.
At least eight other impacts have been observed on the giant planet over the past two decades.
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