The 2010 Jupiter impact event was a
bolide
A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large Impact crater, crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere. ...
impact event
An impact event is a collision between astronomical objects causing measurable effects. Impact events have been found to regularly occur in planetary systems, though the most frequent involve asteroids, comets or meteoroids and have minimal effe ...
on
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
by an object estimated to be about in diameter.
The impactor may have been an
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
,
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
,
centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
,
extinct comet
An extinct comet is a comet that has expelled most of its volatile ice and has little left to form a tail and coma. In a dormant comet, rather than being depleted, any remaining volatile components have been sealed beneath an inactive surface la ...
, or temporary satellite capture.
Observation
The impact happened 3 June 2010, and was recorded and first reported by
amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley from Australia. The event was confirmed by Christopher Go at the Philippines, who recorded the event and released a video.
Wesley is the same person who had been first to report the
2009 Jupiter impact event.
The observed flash lasted about two seconds.
superbolide
A bolide is normally taken to mean an exceptionally bright meteor, but the term is subject to more than one definition, according to context. It may refer to any large crater-forming body, or to one that explodes in the atmosphere. It can be a s ...
impactor probably measured between across, with a mass between .
See also
* Impact events on Jupiter
* List of Jupiter events
References
External links
*
*
{{Jupiter
Jupiter Impact Event, 2010
Jupiter impact events
Articles containing video clips