Jupiter Impact

[PurpleBuddha]

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This recently happened and was captured by a few amateur astronomers.

The flashes from the impact appear to be bigger than the moons orbiting Jupiter. Were they really that big, or just an optical illusion of sorts?

 

[sojourner]

Maybe this could explain the dims in KIC 447134713487613481964?

 

[SPCTRE]

Either way, that is a frighteningly massive impact.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

I think it's comparable with the Shoemaker-Levy impacts. And as I recall from the videos of the time, those looked like they made fireballs bigger than Earth. (Hydrogen atmosphere, don'cha know?)

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Some of the Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 impacts with Jupiter were the equivalent of several teratons (million megatons) of TNT* and the fireballs were about the same size as this one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker–Levy_9#cite_note-Boslough-14

The size of the fireballs had been predicted.

http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1029/94EO00965

Explanation here:

http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/sl9/cometfaq2.html#Q3.2

*For comparison, the Chicxulub asteroid impact had an estimated yield of 100 teratons.

 

[SPCTRE]

I think it's comparable with the Shoemaker-Levy impacts. And as I recall from the videos of the time, those looked like they made fireballs bigger than Earth. (Hydrogen atmosphere, don'cha know?)

yup, and the impact "crater" (visible debris in the atmosphere) left behind by one of the fragments was roughly Earth-sized as well

 

[rhubarbodendron]

I'm not sure if this is an un-manipulated recording. First it's time lapse (moons moving) and then all of a sudden the moons stand completely still during a seeming impact and 2 flares.
Also, what caused this impact ought to have been visible in the time-lapse part of the vid, but it isn't. And it can't have moved in from behind because the direction of the flare indicates that it must have come from the right side of the planet.
This makes me suspect that it's possibly a sort of chimera (pardon me using such a bold simile), cut together from the Levi-Shoemaker-9 impacts and recent material.

 

[B.J.]

It's good to be skeptical, but in this case there are multiple independent recordings of the impact. I saw a couple of different ones over at reddit.com/r/space.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

The moons froze! Why, it's almost as if someone went from time lapse to frame-by-frame just so you could see the incredibly brief time the impact took place!

Also Shoemaker-Levy hit at a completely different angle.

 

[publiusr]

yup, and the impact "crater" (visible debris in the atmosphere) left behind by one of the fragments was roughly Earth-sized as well

I haven't seen any of those dark scars from this event, however.

Also Shoemaker-Levy hit at a completely different angle.

Maybe that's a reason.

All we know is that we saw a bright event on Jupiter's limb. The planet has rotated around its axis as it does--very quickly. Any signs of the impact yet?

One idea.
An object came in at a very shallow angle--not deep enough to cause a plume.

The object was coming in almost flat--pointed directly towards Earth--leaving a circular flare--but no plume in its wake.