The 2010 Jupiter impact event was a bolide impact event on Jupiter by an object estimated to be about 8–13 meters in diameter.[1] The impactor may have been an asteroid, comet, centaur, extinct comet, or temporary satellite capture.
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The impact happened 3 June 2010, and was recorded and first reported by amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley from Australia. The event was confirmed by Christopher Go at the Philippines, who filmed the event, and has released a video.[2][3][4]
The observed flash lasted about two seconds.[2][5] It was located in the South Equatorial Belt, about fifty degrees from the central meridian.[6] The June 2010 superbolide impactor probably measured between 8–13 meters across, with a mass between 500-2000 metric tons.[7] Jupiter probably gets hit by several objects of this size each year.[7]
On August 20, 2010 UT, yet another flash event was detected on Jupiter.[8] As of August 23 two other observers had recorded the same event.[9]
In July 1994 the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 broke apart and collided with Jupiter, resulting in a series of hits. This incident had been predicted in advance.
On 19 July 2009 an impact was observed, which caused a black spot on Jupiter's atmosphere. This unpredicted event was first reported by Anthony Wesley, who also first observed the 2010 event.[2] The 2009 impact has been studied by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, and the study suggests that the observed incident was a hit by an asteroid about 500 metres wide.[11]