Comet may have hit Jupiter

[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]

Better them than us 

[Caliga]

EDIT: Area 52? WoWtard. 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Way to steal Timmay's thunder.

[derspiess]

Space sucks.

[Malthus]

Just those pesky monoliths multiplying again.

[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....      

[Josquius]

Poor Jovian penguins

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Poor Jovian penguins

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

[Josephus]

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.

[Eddie Teach]

EDIT: Area 52? WoWtard. 

The collision was probably caused by goblins somehow.

[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.

[Jaron]

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

RIP Comet

[CountDeMoney]

Better them than us 

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

[Neil]

Better them than us 

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

Jupiter doesn't mind.  That's what it's there for.