Murrumbateman’s Anthony Wesley has set the world’s science media alight by capturing the impact of an asteroid into mighty Jupiter.
From The Age’s report:
- Anthony Wesley, 44, a computer programmer from Murrumbateman, a village north of Canberra, made the discovery about 1am yesterday using his backyard 14.5-inch reflecting telescope.
The impact would have occurred no more than two days earlier and will only be visible for another few days.
Within hours, his images had spread across the internet on science websites.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed the discovery at 9pm yesterday using its large infrared telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
The only other time astronomers have discovered evidence of a space object having hit Jupiter was when the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet collided with the giant planet in July, 1994.
The Canberra based Samba team are currently hosting the astronomical report as interest has overwhelmed Anthony’s web resources.
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