The flash is highlighted in blue.
Mario Lana
It seems that something might have struck Saturn. If so, amateur astronomers could play a crucial role in validating this potential historical event for the gas giant.
Approximately seven asteroids or comets are predicted to collide with Saturn each year, yet these instances often go unnoticed. Currently, NASA employee and amateur astronomer Mario Lana is capturing images that may reveal such an occurrence.
Lana is part of a project called Detect, which employs software to scrutinize images of Jupiter and Saturn, aiming to identify any brief flashes caused by impacts. If these flashes are detected through various telescopes, it can help eliminate the chance of a glitch and confirm the impact.
Ricardo Fuso from the University of Basque Country in Spain is also engaged in detection efforts, but Lana’s flashes are described as “a faint shock signature or just a bright pixel on the camera.” Specifically, astronomers are interested in footage of Saturn taken on July 5th UTC between 9:00 AM and 9:15 AM.
“If only one person witnessed this flash, then it might be an overstatement. Lee Fletcher at the University of Leicester, UK, commented, “If others also witnessed the flash, that’s fantastic; we confirmed an impact.”
Mark Norris, at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, notes that the rising popularity of amateur astronomy and advances in telescope technology are beneficial. “There’s a good chance that someone has captured something they haven’t noticed yet or dismissed as a technical issue,” he notes.
That said, even if the impact is confirmed, the scientific value of the data may be limited due to insufficient information about the impacting object. Ideally, knowing its speed and mass in advance would facilitate observations, allowing us to assess the impact on known variables. This was the case in 1994 when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impacted Jupiter.
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Source: www.newscientist.com
