Amateur astronomer captures comet striking Jupiter

An amateur astronomer in Japan has managed to capture a video of a comet striking Jupiter.

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Amateur astronomer captures comet striking Jupiter

The video shared on social media shows an extraordinary flash occurring on the planet's surface.

We frequently hear news about celestial bodies in space colliding with our planet or others. However, it is often impossible to see these collisions because obtaining footage of them is very difficult, leaving us curious. A newly emerged image is the kind that will satisfy this curiosity.

NOT THE ONLY PLANET IT HAS STRUCK

As reported by Chip, an amateur astronomer in Japan managed to capture a video of a comet striking Jupiter. In the video, which was shared via a tweet earlier this month, a powerful flash is seen on the gas giant as a result of a super-bright comet—or a bolide, as these objects are called—striking the planet.

Of course, Jupiter is not the only planet that these super-bright comets strike.

We also see these fireballs strike Earth from time to time, but they usually explode and break apart before they can penetrate too far into our atmosphere. In previous years, Jupiter has also been the scene of similar collisions due to its powerful gravitational pull.

This particular comet impact is not extraordinary compared to what we have seen so far; however, it is quite impressive to watch. Nevertheless, astronomers say that the explosion did not cause any damage to Jupiter itself.

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Another comet that struck Jupiter in 1994 left massive marks in the planet's atmosphere and sent extremely hot smoke into Jupiter's stratosphere. Of course, bolides have not posed much of a threat to Earth so far. Furthermore, in such a situation, there are programs like NASA's DART program that help protect our planet from incoming celestial bodies.

However, the bolides that strike Earth are not large enough to cause problems, and most of the time they either vanish in the atmosphere or fall into vast ocean areas. This usually makes them impossible to find and study.

News Source: 12punto