First Earth-Based Detection of a Superbolide on Jupiter

Abstract

Cosmic collisions on planets cause detectable optical flashes that range from terrestrial shooting stars to bright fireballs. On June 3, 2010 a bolide in Jupiter's atmosphere was simultaneously observed from the Earth by two amateur astronomers observing Jupiter in red and blue wavelengths. The bolide appeared as a flash of 2 s duration in video recording data of the planet. The analysis of the light curve of the observations results in an estimated energy of the impact of 0.9-4.0x10 15 J which corresponds to a colliding body of 8-13 m diameter assuming a mean density of 2 g cm -3 . Images acquired a few days later by the Hubble Space Telescope and other large ground-based facilities did not show any signature of aerosol debris, temperature or chemical composition anomaly, confirming that the body was small and destroyed in Jupiter's upper atmosphere. Several collisions of this size may happen on Jupiter on a yearly basis. A systematic study of the impact rate and size of these bolides can enable an empirical determination of the flux of meteoroids in Jupiter with implications for the populations of small bodies in the outer Solar System and may allow a better quantification of the threat of impacting bodies to Earth. The serendipitous recording of this optical flash opens a new window in the observation of Jupiter with small telescopes.

Impact flux on Jupiter: From superbolides to large-scale collisions

“…In Sect. 4 we analyze these observations, estimate the mass of the objects, and revise our previous values for the June 2010 impact (Hueso et al 2010b). In Sect.…”

“…The same event was captured by Christopher Go (C.G., Cebu, Philippines), who used a 28 cm telescope. This flash has been analyzed in detail by Hueso et al (2010b), and here we review our previous analysis and put this object into context with the later bolides. Because the flash was detected simultaneously from two different geographical locations, it unambiguously occurred in Jupiter and not in Earth's atmosphere.…”

“…The first 2010 fireball ignited visible and infrared observations on large telescopes (Keck, IRTF, and Gemini North 19 h after the impact; Gemini South and VLT 38 hours after the impact; HST 77 h after the impact, see Hueso et al 2010b) aimed to detect any possible atmospheric debris. Figure 3 shows images of the impact area from those observations.…”

“…Although smaller than the SL9 comet, this impact hinted at a higher than expected impact rate on Jupiter. Small impacts of 10 m-class objects have also been detected by the short one-to two-second fireballs produced as these objects enter the atmosphere of the planet releasing large amounts of energy (Hueso et al 2010b). Three of these Jovian superbolides have been found in video observations obtained by amateur astronomers on June 3, 2010, August 20, 2010, and September 10, 2012 during times when Jupiter was relatively close to opposition and many amateurs were observing the planet.…”

Constraints from Comets on the Formation and Volatile Acquisition of the Planets and Satellites

“…In the last few years, amateur observations have led to the unexpected detection of new impacts in Jupiter's atmosphere in (Sánchez-Lavega et al 2010Fletcher et al 2010Fletcher et al , 2011bHueso et al 2010aHueso et al , 2013. While the size of the 2009 impactor (∼ 0.5 km) made the impact look like one of the main SL9 impacts, the high abundance of silica and the lack of spectroscopic evidence of cometary-derived species like CO, CS, and HCN, favor an asteroidal origin rather than a cometary origin for this impactor (Orton et al 2011).…”