This is a little too mystical for my tastes, but on the cusp of Walter Cronkite’s death, and the Apollo 11 moon landing 40th anniversary, a mysterious dark spot has appeared on Jupiter.
The dark feature was first observed at approximately 13:30 universal time today by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley from his home observatory just outside Murrumbateman NSW Australia. Wesley photographed Jupiter through a 14.5 inch Newtonian reflector.
Science fiction fans will remember the closing chapters of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2010: Odyssey Two when black alien monoliths began popping up in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
The explanation for this one is a bit more down to Earth, per the observer’s posting tonight:
“Preliminary image showing a black mark in Jupiters South Polar Region (SPR) which is almost certainly the result of a large impact - either an asteroid or comet - similar to the Shoemaker-Levy impacts in 1994.”
Let me caution that as of this writing the spot has not been reported by anyone else. Also, it is too near the pole to be a satellite shadow, and also moves with the planet’s rotation according to Wesley.
In July 1994 a string of comet pieces, from the breakup of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, bombarded Jupiter for nearly a week. Each fragment exploded in Jupiter’s atmosphere and blew black material above the cloud tops. This was considered a once in 10,000-year spectacle. Now, the new spot is reminiscent of the scars let behind by SL9.
This will reinvigorate 2012 soothsayers that strange cosmic events are coming. But for the rest of us everyday, more pragmatic observers, this unusual event will be followed closely by telescopes all over the world over the next few days.
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