Attaboy, Big Guy!

Jupiter-impact Some amateur astronomers have detected a dark spot on Jupiter (left, near the upper pole) that they think may be an impact mark in the atmosphere.

In other words, Jupiter may have been hit by an asteroid, comet, or comet fragment, like when it was struck by fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy back in 1994.

MORE INFO ON THAT.

The difference would be that back in the '90s we saw the comet coming and this time we apparently didn't see whatever-it-was sneaking up on the big planet.

I'm just glad that Jupiter is out there taking bullets for the rest of the solar system.

It's thought–especially among rare-earth advocates–that the existence of Jupiter is one of the reasons life was able to evolve here on Earth by shielding the inner solar system from impat events (though there is doubt about that).

In any event, astronomers should figure out soon whether this was a real impact event.

It's just cool that astronomy is one science where nonprofessionals can still make valuable contributions.

And look at how the guys in their combox go into action trying to get the sighting reported and confirmed. 

GET THE STORY. (cht: Instapundit)

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

14 thoughts on “Attaboy, Big Guy!”

  1. And so it begins.
    It wasn’t an asteroid. It’s a whole bunch of really black rectangular prisms, and they’re doing something big. Get ready.

  3. Talk about drawing straight with crooked lines! The straightness of those bands are amazing.

  4. Yikes! The IRISH!!
    The Irish have only given us two truly great things: 1) Whiskey to drink and 2) Waterford Crystal to drink your Whiskey from.
    Ok. Three things… – 3) the ability to talk eloquently about The Faith.

  5. According to the Irishastronomy site, JPL (the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, U. S. A.) has confirmed that this is an impact event. The Keck telescope (the largest in the world) has been turned towards it.
    The Chicken

  6. Also, the impact event is in the Southern hemisphere. The black spot in the Norther hemisphere is a regular part of Jupiter. You cannot see the impact in the photograph, above.

  7. Why no mention of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing? A few of us were alive, back then, or have access to a time machine in our basements. I really feel sorry for the youth of today. For an instant, the entire world looked upwards at the sky, together, as one. It was the last time that selfishness ever vanished from the world.
    The Chicken

  8. Chicken,
    Are you sure about the location of the impact site? It’s near the south pole, but I assumed that this is the *upper* pole in the picture since the picture was taken in Australia, so the photographer would have had to turn the image upside down (for him) to get Jupiter’s south pole at the bottom of the picture. Since the only dark mark is near the upper pole of the picture, and since the photographer was in the southern hemisphere of Earth, I assumed that the upper pole of the photo was the souther pole of Jupiter.
    Oh well.
    Also, *yes!* moonwalk anniversary! Just haven’t been able to blog it with all else that’s going on.

  9. Dear Jimmy,
    It doesn’t matter whether the image is taken in the southern hemisphere or northern hemisphere. The image would look the same. The reason the image is upside down is because it was taken with a refracting telescope, which inverts the image.
    The Chicken

  10. Why get excited about some dark spot on Jupiter. The Universe is not much older than 1 million years and we will not be annihilated in some apocalyptic event. It is also very doubtful that there is life on other planets. Unfortunately science fiction fans are like fundamentalist, they think the end of time is imminent.

  11. Dear Maccity,
    You wrote:
    The Universe is not much older than 1 million years..
    Proof?
    The Chicken

  12. Okay, some of you might not have heard that they woke up Hubble from test-sleep to get a good look at the spot here.
    I’m with TMC in wanting to learn of such evidence, maccity.

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