Comet may have hit Jupiter

NASA images show scar in planet's atmosphere near south pole

This image, captured by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility on Hawaii, shows a large impact on Jupiter's south polar region on Monday. The impact zone is the bright spot at lower left.

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PASADENA, Calif. - Astronomers say Jupiter has apparently been struck by an object, possibly a comet.

Images taken early Monday by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, at the summit of the Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, show a dark scar in Jupiter's atmosphere near the south pole of the gas giant.

The images also show bright upwelling particles in the atmosphere, detected in near-infrared wavelengths, as well as a warming of the upper troposphere with possible extra emission from ammonia gas detected at mid-infrared wavelengths.

Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena captured the new images after receiving a tip from an Australian amateur astronomer, Anthony Wesley, on the night before.

"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,"
JPL scientist Glenn Orton said in a statement released by the lab.

Orton said the event "could be the impact of a comet, but we don't know for sure yet."

The images, taken by the space agency's infrared telescope in Hawaii, come on the 15th anniversary of another comet strike. In 1994, Jupiter was bombarded by pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.