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Comet may have hit Jupiter

Started by KRonn, July 21, 2009, 11:14:48 AM

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KRonn

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32015814/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Comet may have hit Jupiter
NASA images show scar in planet's atmosphere  near south pole

msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 10:37 p.m. ET, Mon., July 20, 2009

PASADENA, Calif. - Astronomers say Jupiter has apparently been struck by an object, possibly a comet.

Images taken early Monday by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, at the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, show a dark scar in Jupiter's atmosphere near the south pole of the gas giant.

The images also show bright upwelling particles in the atmosphere, detected in near-infrared wavelengths, as well as a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.


Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena captured the new images after receiving a tip from an Australian amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley, on the night before.

"We were extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour,
the right side of Jupiter to witness the event. We couldn't have planned it better,"
JPL scientist Glenn Orton said in a statement released by the lab.

Orton said the event "could be the impact of a comet, but we don't know for sure yet."

The images, taken by the space agency's infrared telescope in Hawaii, come on the 15th anniversary of another comet strike. In 1994, Jupiter was bombarded by pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

This report includes information from The Associated Press and NASA.

Valmy

Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Caliga

0 Ed Anger Disapproval Points

BuddhaRhubarb

:p

derspiess

"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Malthus

Just those pesky monoliths multiplying again.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

KRonn

Maybe it was an attempt to fake a planetary landing, as the hoax on the moon landing? Now have to wait for details of a US landing on Jupiter....     :area52:  :tinfoil:

Josquius

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BuddhaRhubarb

Quote from: Tyr on July 21, 2009, 11:48:30 AM
Poor Jovian penguins :(

Maybe that black spot is all the Jovian Penguins gathering to worship the Monoliths.
:p

Josephus

Quote from: BuddhaRhubarb on July 21, 2009, 11:56:20 AM
Quote from: Tyr on July 21, 2009, 11:48:30 AM
Poor Jovian penguins :(

Maybe that black spot is all the Jovian Penguins gathering to worship the Monoliths.

But I thought the black spot was the monoliths. I wonder if this means we're gonna have two suns now. Like that will help global warming. :huh:
Civis Romanus Sum<br /><br />"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

Eddie Teach

Quote from: Caliga on July 21, 2009, 11:17:21 AM
:area52:

EDIT: Area 52? :yeahright: WoWtard.  :mad:

:lmfao:

The collision was probably caused by goblins somehow.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

FunkMonk

Whatever images they produce are obviously fabrications. Jupiter's gravity is so strong a comet would have been ripped apart long before it could hit the planet, much like Earth's Van Allen radiation belt prevents humans from landing on the moon. Clearly this is just another in a long line of hoaxes perpetrated by NASA.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

Jaron

Santa is going to be a little slower this year, I fear.

RIP Comet
Winner of THE grumbler point.

CountDeMoney

Quote from: Valmy on July 21, 2009, 11:16:30 AM
Better them than us  :ph34r:

No shit.  Thanks for taking one for the team, Jupiter.

Neil

Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 21, 2009, 06:31:17 PM
Quote from: Valmy on July 21, 2009, 11:16:30 AM
Better them than us  :ph34r:

No shit.  Thanks for taking one for the team, Jupiter.
Jupiter doesn't mind.  That's what it's there for.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.