Jupiter
A publication of the Jupiter Section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
Copyright (c) 2010
Vol. 12, No. 6 June 7, 2010
Apparition Dates:
Jupiter was at Solar conjunction on February 28, 2010
Jupiter reaches opposition on September 21, 2010
Jupiter returns to conjunction on April 6, 2011
It is exciting times to be a Jupiter observer! The early details of the discovery by Anthony Wesley and Christopher Go are covered in nearby locations on this site.
The most recent “surprise” is that this apparent impact event did not leave any kind of dark spot, nor any signature in the infrared. Perhaps we should not be surprised. We have precious few previous confirmed impacts to go on (2). I will not try to list the various hypotheses now. There are too many mutually exclusive ideas being floated. Until we get more observations and deeper analysis of the little bit of data in hand, there is no way to choose among them.
One point that I want to emphasize is that we would not be discussing this event very much if there had been only one observer. Both Anthony and Christopher (separated by many miles) saw the same event at the same time. That lets us quickly rule out seeing effects or telescope/ camera/ software issues. It even rules out my personal favorite hypothesis for an unexplained flash: a small head-on meteor in the Earth’s atmosphere. (Somebody always suggests it.)
The importance of simultaneous observations cannot be overemphasized.
And now for some images of Jupiter not related to the suspected impact.
South is up. Preceding to the left.
South is up. Preceding to the left.
South is up. Preceding to the left.
South is up. Preceding to the left.
Submission of Observations
Note to imagers: Please put your name, UT date, UT time, and CM1 and CM2 on all images.
Please submit observations as directed below: Mail CM transit timings monthly to: John McAnally 2124 Wooded Acres Waco, TX 76710 E-mail: CPAJohnM@aol.com Mail photographs and images at least monthly. We prefer e-mail attachment of JPG image. Richard W. Schmude Gordon College Division of Mathematics and Natural Science 419 College Dr Barnesville, GA 30204 E-mail: Schmude@gdn.edu Mail observations of the timings of eclipses of Jupiter's satellites to: John E. Westfall P.O. Box 16131 San Francisco, CA 94116 E-mail: johnwestfall@comcast.net
ALPO_Jupiter
Join ALPO_Jupiter, the Jupiter Section’s E-mail network. Provided for observers of Jupiter to share observations, make comments, ask questions and generally provide help to each other.
To join, send a blank e-mail to ALPO_Jupiter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Newsletter Editor: Craig MacDougal, Assistant Coordinator, ALPO Jupiter Section
Email: macdouc@verizon.net
