What Caused The Flash On Jupiter? Remember the asteroid impact
on Jupiter that happened two weeks ago? Well, apparently Jupiter
doesn’t. What was once a chance sighting of a comparatively
common impact event on the largest planet in our solar system
has turned into something of an unsolvable puzzle. It seems
while the flash was the perfect indicator for an impact, the
lack of the usual follow-up evidence has left astronomers
scratching their heads as to what hit the gas giant. Ever since
the impact of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet in 1995, astronomers
have had a discernible chain of events that they could point to
when it comes to large impact events on Jupiter. Once a comet or
other large space debris is pulled into Jupiter, first you have
the impact (which, given the correct placement of equipment, is
visible to astronomers), and then you have the deep black
scarring that denotes the impactor’s explosion in the planet’s
atmosphere. In an email to Universe Today, SETI astronomer
Franck Marchis tells why this te