Jupiter Shakes it Off

Jupiter has been suffering more impacts over the last four years than ever previously observed, including this meteoroid impact on Sept. 10, 2012. The left-hand image was taken from a red-filtered video by amateur astronomer George Hall of Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 10 and processed by Ricardo Hueso (University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain). The right-hand image is an infrared image from NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, taken on Sept. 11. Scientists compare the visible-light images to the infrared images to learn about the fireball's disruption of the Jovian atmosphere. In this case, the infrared view reveals no long-term disturbance. The circles in the annotated version indicate where the impact occurred. Scientists think the fireball was caused by an object less than 45 feet (15 meters) in diameter.