An amateur Japanese astronomer Tadao Ohsugi spotted a bright flash in Jupiter's atmosphere. This flash one of the brightest ever recorded on the giant gas planet, was observed last month.
According to a New York Times report, the astronomer sent an email to Dr. Ko Arimatsu, an astronomer at Kyoto University. Upon receiving the email, Dr. Arimatsu put a call out for more information. The media report said that flashes like these are caused by asteroids or comets from the edges of our solar system that impact Jupiter's atmosphere.
Dr. Arimatsu received six more reports of the August 28 flash. Dr. Arimatsu told NYT, "Direct observation of these bodies is virtually impossible, even with advanced telescopes," Dr. Arimatsu wrote in an email. But Jupiter's gravity lures in these objects, which eventually slam into the planet, "making it a unique and invaluable tool for studying them directly."
Dr. Arimatsu explained that these flashes are a crucial way to understand our solar system's history. He added that they "offer a glimpse of the violent processes that were happening in the early days of our solar system," said Leigh Fletcher, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester in England. It's like "seeing planetary evolution in action."
The report stated that such powerful impacts on Jupiter are a lot more rare, but they do occur. In 1994, a comet whacked the planet with so much force that it left a visible debris field. Another impact was seen in 2009.
Dr. Arimatsu told NYT that eight of the nine flashes were seen in Jupiter since 2010. He also shed light on the importance of astronomy initiatives.
According to Dr Arimatsu's initial analyses, the flash reported in August had an impact comparable to the 1908 Tunguska explosion in Siberia, which experts believe was an asteroid that ripped apart 800 square miles of forest.
