[meteorite-list] July 2009 Jupiter Impact - Remnants Of Shoemaker Levy 9?

From: Meteorites USA <eric_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:52:05 -0700
Message-ID: <4A70FCC5.9010207_at_meteoritesusa.com>

Hi all,

I've been sort of following the recent impact as captured by amateur
astronomer Anthony Wesley of Australia.

The time frame of the impact and the location of the impact is very
interesting. Has any noticed that the impact is almost 15 years exactly
to the day of the comet Shoemaker Levy 9 impacts?

In addition, the latitude is "close" too. It is in the southern
hemisphere and very close to the same latitude as the 1994 impacts.

Could this most recent impactor be some yet unseen piece of the original
Shoemaker Levy 9 impactor?

Here's two photos: Both from NASA

July 23rd 2009 Impact:
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/372829main_p0923ay.jpg

July 22nd 1994 Impact (5.5 days after impact):
http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/gif/hst21.gif

Notice the black marks are VERY similar to the black marks in Jupiters
atmosphere on this most recent impact.

Since the impact happened within a few days time of the original impact
even 15 years ago, has anyone done some calculations or research to see
if it's possible that this is a related impact?

The orbit of Jupiter around the Sun is 12 years. What was the orbit of
the comet SL9?

Oh yeah, and if this most recent impact was in fact from remnants of SL9
then are there any others out there with Earth's name on them?


NASA's JPL blog posts on the Jupiter event: http://blogs.jpl.nasa.gov/

"...Patrick, Jim, BobK. I suspect that the only link between this and
the SL9 fragments is the voracious appetite of Jupiter, the great
gravitational vacuum cleaner in that part of the solar system! SL9
fragments impacted from the south; this was from the east..."

We know that SL9's close pass in 1992 caused it to impact in 1994. Is it
possible that some pieces of SL9 actually missed Jupiter and came back
around to smack it again? But this time from the East rather than the
South? What's the likelihood or possibility of the orbit changing so much?

Can it really be just an astronomical coincidence that this impact
happened within a day or so of the 15th anniversary of the SL9 impact?



Some more interesting reading...
10 Questions For Anthony Wesley, The 2009 Jupiter Impact Dude!
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/anthony-wesley/


Regards,
Eric
Received on Wed 29 Jul 2009 09:52:05 PM PDT