CUTTING EDGE
Fireball over Jupiter outshines the Sun
The bright flash was caused by an impact the size of the Tunguska event
The spectacular collision of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in 1994 was watched closely by observatories and space probes, and made headlines around the world. Since 2010, six impact flashes on Jupiter have been serendipitously observed, including by amateur astronomers. A simple brightness measurement allows for an estimate of the energy of such impacts, but far more accurate calculations can be made if they are recorded at several different wavelengths.
Ko Arimatsu, at the Astronomical Observatory, Kyoto University, and his colleagues have been using the Planetary ObservatioN Camera for Optical Transient Surveys (PONCOTS), dedicated to monitoring
