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. These events underscore the continuing importance of amateur astronomy, as well as the need to discover potential impactors that could hit our own planet.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef9X6QmO0i0&w=700]

Written by Astro1 on September 11th, 2012 , Astronomy

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