LPS XXVI 231 IMPLICATIONS OF ThE JUPITER COMET CRASH FOR THE EARTh IMPACT HAZARD; C.R. Chapman, Planetary Science Institute; D.

The first of 21 huge fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 blasted its way into the depths of Jupiter's atmosphere yesterday, exploded with a bright flash and hurled a white-hot plume of gas high above the giant planet, leaving a huge, circular wound in Jupiter's dense cloud cover.The show last night was so spectacular it could be seen even by amateur astronomers with small telescopes, despite the fact that all the comet fragments were striking the far side of Jupiter, out of direct sight of Earth.The splintered comet's first huge chunk, Fragment A, hit the Jovian cloud tops shortly after 4 P.M. (Eastern time) yesterday.

At the Wise Observatory in Israel, Dr. James Scotti and his team from the University of Arizona saw a flash at the edge of the planet at 4:04 P.M. At 4:18 P.M., a huge plume came into view as Jupiter rotated, bringing the impact site into view.Within hours, observatories in many parts of the world were transmitting electronic images and reports of their observations of the first cometary impact.

The view was generally best for observatories in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly the European and American observatories in Chile, because for those observatories Jupiter is farther above the horizon than in the Northern Hemisphere. 'My God, look at that!' Exclaimed Dr.

Heidi Hammel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a leader of one of the teams observing Jupiter with the Hubble Space Telescope. 'And Fragment A wasn't even one of the biggest fragments - it was just the first of 21! This is going to be a great week.'

Hal Weaver of the space telescope group estimated Fragment A was a mile in diameter. Fragment G, due to arrive Monday, is believed to be several times larger.Even amateur astronomers were filing detailed reports of their observations with Dr. Marsden, director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams in Cambridge, Mass., whose organization is the international clearinghouse for astronomical discoveries.Among the amateurs reporting the sighting of a large spot created by the fall of Fragment A were Jeff Beisch, Carl Hernandez and Don Parker of Miami, using a telescope only 16 inches in diameter - small, by professional standards.

They described the new spot as bluish in color. Huge though it is by terrestrial standards - probably more than 1,000 miles across - it is dwarfed by Jupiter 'Great Red Spot,' a feature of the Jovian atmosphere that is as big as Earth.

As Kernbauer says, this isn't the first time or comet.' From our point of view this simply serves to remind us that impacts in the solar system are real and Jupiter gets more than its fair share of impacts,' said Chodas said. 'It draws in a lot of asteroids and comets.

We are seeing these impact flashes on Jupiter about once a year now, and that's I believe because of instrumentation.' Between July 16 and July 22 of 1994, fragments of the as astronomers and stargazers watched in awe through their telescopes on Earth. The impacts left great scars that were visible on the Jupiter for months through even a small telescope.

While astronomers watched comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Jupiter crash from Earth, NASA's Galileo spacecraft - which was en route Jupiter at the time - captured stunning images of the collision. The Hubble Space Telescope recorded views of the impacts in different wavelengths, while NASA used its Deep Space Network to track radio disturbances in Jupiter's radiation belt. Fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in July 1994 created dark clouds on Jupiter, visible even in small telescopes.NASA/ESAThen it happened in again.On July 19, 2009, Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley noticed a dark spot near Jupiter's southern pole: the telltale bruise from an impact,. It was roughly the size of the ill-fated Titanic cruise ship.A year later, on June 3, 2010,.

This impact was also spotted by Wesley in Australia, as well as by fellow Jupiter-watcher Christopher Go in the Philippines. But wait, there's more.Later in 2010, on Aug. 20, was spotted by amateur astronomer Masayuki Tachikawa in Japan. Then on Sept. 12, 2012, this one first spotted by Dan Peterson of Racine, Wisconsin.The photos from the recent Jupiter impacts show how the planet is under constant surveillance by some die-hard amateur astronomers. 'Better and better instruments means Jupiter is being monitored, even by amateur astronomers, much more than it was in the past,' Chodas said.And the planet is about to get another visitor, this one from NASA.On July 4 of this year, will arrive in orbit around Jupiter to pick up where the Galileo mission (which ended in 2003) left off.

The $1.1 billion Juno mission launched in 2011 and is expected to spend at least a year mapping Jupiter in amazing detail.Editor's note:If you captured a stunning photo of the March 17 impact on Jupiter and you'd like to share it with Space.com and our news partners for a story or gallery, send images and comments in to managing editor Tariq Malik at.Space.com staff writer Calla Cofield contributed to this report from New York City. Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him and Follow us,. Original article on.First published on March 30, 2016 / 10:29 AMSpace.com. All rights reserved. Ciao bella ice cream sandwiches.