The picture is from CNN courtesy of NASA. They think it might have been a dim comet that they just didn’t see. Or maybe a gigantic chunk of ice that was on the other side of the planet. Could have been anything really:
Jupiter is sporting a new scar after a mystery object hit the gaseous planet this week, NASA scientists say… It’s not clear what the object was that crashed into Jupiter’s poisonous atmosphere. Glenn Orton, a JPL scientist, told the magazine New Scientist that it could have been a block of ice from somewhere in Jupiter’s neighborhood, or a wandering comet that was too faint for astronomers to have detected before impact.
“We were extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of Jupiter to witness the event. We couldn’t have planned it better,” Orton said in a NASA interview. Scientists also don’t know how large the object was, but the impact scar it created is about the same size as Earth, JPL astronomer Leigh Fletcher told the magazine.
I’m sure we can all relate to the scientists’ giddiness. But I think there’s something to be said for a little less exuberance and a little more figuring out why there are Earth-sized things floating around the solar system going undetected.
Relatedly, the NYT has a long, navel-gazing piece about how NASA has lost direction. It has to do with not having enough professional philosophers sitting around. Presumably once we fix that we’ll have greater insight into the onto-epistemic significance of gigantic planetary collisions we didn’t see coming.
References:
* Mystery impact leaves Earth-size mark on Jupiter [CNN]
* One Giant Leap to Nowhere [NYT]
Previously:
* Neat – Germs Taken To Space So They Can Mutate, Come Back Deadlier
* Space Exploration Is Worth It
* Water On Mars!!!
