A rare sight seen on Jupiter recently. The largest planet in the Solar System has just been hit by an asteroid that creates a flash that can be seen from Earth.
The incident took place on October 15. Skywatchers in Japan saw a flash in Jupiter's atmosphere and the event was caught on camera.
As reported by Live Science, Sunday (10/24/2021) they confirmed the observations were made by a team led by Ko Arimatsu, an astronomer at the University of Japan who took part in the Organized Autotelescopes for Serendipitous Event Survey (OASES) project.
Looks like there is a white light like a flash on Jupiter. The sign indicates that for now, the planet was hit by an asteroid.
According to Sky & Telescope, the flash on October 15 hit in the planet's Northern Tropical Zone, near the southern edge of the Northern Climate Belt.
Observers do not know for sure the impact caused by the asteroid impact, whether it left a hole, the size of the falling asteroid, and others.
As the largest planet in the Solar System, Jupiter has a strong gravitational pull due to its mass. This is what makes the outer space objects around the planet are attracted and then fall on Jupiter's land.
Previous research said space objects measuring about 150 feet or 45 meters almost every month fall to Jupiter.
A number of monitoring programs on Jupiter continue to be carried out to thoroughly know this one planet.