[meteorite-list] Hubble Space Telescope Captures Rare Jupiter Collision

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 21:55:57 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200907270455.n6R4tv3h002154_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

July 24, 2009

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

Ray Villard
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore
410-338-4514
villard at stsci.edu

RELEASE: 09-176

HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE CAPTURES RARE JUPITER COLLISION

BALTIMORE -- NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest
visible-light picture yet of atmospheric debris from an object that
collided with Jupiter on July 19. NASA scientists decided to
interrupt the recently refurbished observatory's checkout and
calibration to take the image of a new, expanding spot on the giant
planet on July 23.

Discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley, the spot
was created when a small comet or asteroid plunged into Jupiter's
atmosphere and disintegrated. The only other time such a feature has
been seen on Jupiter was 15 years ago after the collision of
fragments from comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

"Because we believe this magnitude of impact is rare, we are very
fortunate to see it with Hubble," said Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Details seen in the
Hubble view shows a lumpiness to the debris plume caused by
turbulence in Jupiter's atmosphere."

The new Hubble images also confirm that a May servicing visit by space
shuttle astronauts was a big success.

"This image of the impact on Jupiter is fantastic," said U.S. Sen.
Barbara A. Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Commerce, Justice and
Science Appropriations Subcommittee. "It tells us that our astronauts
and the ground crew at the Goddard Space Flight Center successfully
repaired the Hubble telescope. I'm so proud of them and I can't wait
to see what's next from Hubble."

For the past several days, Earth-based telescopes have been trained on
Jupiter. To capture the unfolding drama 360 million miles away, Matt
Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in
Baltimore, gave observation time to a team of astronomers led by
Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

"Hubble's truly exquisite imaging capability has revealed an
astonishing wealth of detail in the impact site," Hammel said. "By
combining these images with our ground-based data at other
wavelengths, our Hubble data will allow a comprehensive understanding
of exactly what is happening to the impact debris."

Simon-Miller estimated the diameter of the impacting object was the
size of several football fields. The force of the explosion on
Jupiter was thousands of times more powerful than the suspected comet
or asteroid that exploded over the Siberian Tunguska River Valley in
June 1908.

The image was taken with the Wide Field Camera 3. The new camera,
installed by the astronauts aboard space shuttle Atlantis in May, is
not yet fully calibrated. While it is possible to obtain celestial
images, the camera's full power has yet to be seen.

"This is just one example of what Hubble's new, state-of-the-art
camera can do, thanks to the STS-125 astronauts and the entire Hubble
team," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's Science
Mission Directorate in Washington. "However, the best is yet to
come."

To view the image and obtain more information about Jupiter's new
spot, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/hubble

-end-
Received on Mon 27 Jul 2009 12:55:57 AM PDT