Amateur Astronomers Spot Jovian Blast

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Submission + - Amateur Astronomers Spot Jovian Blast

Submitted by RocketAcademy on Tuesday September 11, 2012 @12:27PM

RocketAcademy writes: Spaceweather.com reports an explosion on Jupiter, which was detected by two amateur astronomers.

According to Spaceweather.com, the event occurred at 11:35 Universal Time on September 10. Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin, observing through a 12-inch Meade telescope, observed a white flash lasting for 1.5-2 seconds. George Hall of Dallas, Texas was capturing a video of Jupiter at the time, which also captured the event.

It's believed that the explosion was due to a comet or small asteroid collision. Similar events were observed in the past, in June and August 2010.

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