Fragment K Impact on Jupiter
From the newsgroup sci.astro:
Zac Pujic: Fragment K Impact 19 Jul 1994 14:11
Members of the Southern Astronomical Society have been
observing the impact of fragment K into Jupiter.
The observations were made between 10 hrs UT and about
13.30 hrs UT. Observations were made difficult due to
poor seeing and the lower altitude of Jupiter as
compared to the fragment G impact observations which
our group made yesterday.
Plume: At 10.30 hrs UT (20.30 hrs Australian Eastern
Standard Time), a plume was observed projecting from
the southwestern (IAU convention) edge of Jupiter. It
was visible until 10.40 hrs UT. The plume was observed
by all observers listed below except Peter Adam, president
of the Southern Astronomical Society who couldn't get
access to a telescope (they were full of observers!!).
Indentation: At 11.07 hrs UT, an indentation was observed
at the southwestern limb of Jupiter which was similar to
the indentation observed for plume G. Although visible,
the indentation was much more difficult to observe. The
indentation gradually disappeared and was no longer visible
by about 11.35 hrs UT.
Spot K: During the disappearance of the indentation, a
dark spot became visible near the southwest limb of
Jupiter. Its appearance, initially, was difficult to
discern - it was a dark spot several arcseconds in
diameter. By the end of the observing session, it
was clear that the spot was composed of a dark centre
and a dark ring or collar.
The observations listed above were made by the following:
Zac Pujic
Colin Drescher
Lindsay Beaman
Samantha Beaman
Michael Sieters
Cameron Beaman
Peter Adam
Brett Armstrong
Michael Bates
32-cm f/5.75 Newtonian
Magnification of 383
Seeing 5/10 ALPO Scale
Transparency 4/5 ALPO Scale
4.8-mm Nagler eyepiece
These observations were confirmed by Greg Bock and Peter
Marples who were observing at Helensvale, and by Gregg D.
Thompson observing from Springwood, Queensland.
They were also confirmed by Jeff Ryder observing from
Sir Thomas Brisbane Observatory.
Zac Pujic
pujic@biosci.uq.oz.au
D
D
A
--
|----------------------------------------------------------|
| Zac Pujic |
| The University Of Queensland * |
| Brisbane Queensland * * |
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GREG BOCK: Fragment k plume observed. Tue, 19 Jul 1994 11:10
Observing at helensvale, Queeensland. with 30cm Newt. and 35cm Newt. at
200X.
At 8:18 pm (10: 18 UT) nothing seen, and no flash from Europa.
At approx. 8:31pm AEST, (10:31 UT), observed a similar bright spot (plume?)
to the one that we observed last night. However, tonights plume located was
on the following limb of Jupiter at about 50 to 55 degrees south lat.
It appeared to be fainter than the fragment G plume, and persisted until
about 8:45 pm (10:45 UT.)
Confirmed by G. Thompson at Springwood Obs., and Z. Pujic at Kingston.
Seeing tonight was not as excellent as last night.
Greg Bock, Peter Marples.
Southern Astronomical Society, Queensland, Australia.
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LAU KAI IP: Impact K seen in Hong Kong 19 Jul 1994 17:59
We observed Jupiter at 19/7 11:35 UT with a 12" Newtonian in Chinese
Univerity of Hong Kong, and saw a large black spot on south part of it. Its
diameter was about 10 deg on Jupiter.
It faded (but still clearly visible) and crossed the CM at about 13:00
UT. It was one of the 6 impacts visible in Hong Kong and impressed us much.
Thanks Shoemaker and Levy :-)
Patrick
--
==============================================================================
Patrick Lau Kai Ip
email:patricklau@cuhk.hk
s926107@mailserv.cuhk.hk
s926107@acs.csc.cuhk.hk
==============================================================================
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Cameron Newham: Observation of impact K 19 Jul 1994 10:40
I observed impact K from Perth, Western Australia.
Unfortunately I didn't see any visible flash or
plume from 10 minutes before through 10 minutes
after the predicted time of impact (6:18pm local
time). I was away from the 'scope for a couple
of 30 second intervals so if the flash was
relatively quick then I might have missed it.
About 45 minutes to 1 hour after the impact, I
could make out the impact site - a nice notch
in the side of the terminator.
2 hours later, K was clearly in view and looks
to be a grayish patch about the size of the GRS
(perhaps bigger).
Equipment used: C8 w/ 6.4mm EP.
I'd like to know if anyone has seen an impact
visually. By the seems of things they are
only easily seen in IR.
- cameron.
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Gil Summy: sl9 K impact seen? 19 Jul 1994 23:46
The following observations were made from Brisbane, Australia with a 10"
f/5.6 newtonian on July 19:
At aprox. 9 UT two impact sights were clearly visible. I was quite
surprised at how readily they were seen, even by inexperienced
observers. We continued to track the impact sights as Jupiter rotated,
then at about 9:30 UT I noticed what appeared to be a small star right on
the eastern edge of the planet, at the same lattitude as the dark impact
sights. Initially I did not think it could be the impact of the K
fragment because it was 50 minutes before the predicted impact time. My
doubts faded however as the "star" continued to brighten over the next
two minutes to a brightness only marginally less than the Gallilean
satellites. The brightness was maintained for about five minutes before
the event rapidly faded over aprox. 1 minute. We did not observe the dark
impact zone from the collision until aprox. 11:45 UT. This zone was
considerably larger than the zones which we had seen earlier although it
did not seem to be as sharply defined.
Anyway, did anyone else observe this event or know if the K fragment
impacted earlier than was predicted?
--
Gil Summy |
Laser Atomic Physics Laboratory |
Griffith University | E-MAIL: g.summy@sct.gu.edu.au
AUSTRALIA |
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Graham Davies: sl9 observation - fragment (Australia) 19 Jul 1994 13:08
Greetings from Sydney, Australia
Viewing by Northern Districts Society for Amateur Astronomers
Riverview Observatory
Sydney, New South Wales AUSTRALIA
Despite the cloud, a group of 20+ amateurs with scopes from 4 to 11 inches
aperture, some with CCD imagers on VCR recorders, watched for the expected
fragment K at 20.15 pm or so (10.15 UT). Not a sausage !!! Well, not until
about 22.00 pm EST (12.00 UT) when we saw a large smudge centred about
65-70 degrees southern latitude. We think it is real and new, and not a
manifestation of previous impacts. Size was at least as big or bigger than
fragment G, but it is hard to tell because of its very southerly latitude.
It is very low, and quite distinct. Nothing was seen at the time of
supposed impact, so we suppose that the fragment was probably farther
around in longtitude and took a long time to come into view.
We hope to examine the VCR recordings more critically later, to
see if the flash was reflected from Europa in eclipse.
Graham Davies
=============
for NDSAAI, 19th July 1994 (23.00 EST - 13.00 UT)
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Brett Holman: >Any flashes seen on the satellites of Jupiter ?0 Jul 1994 00:39
In article <30hoo6$atl@harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au>, gacap1@mdw075.cc.monash.edu.
au (Mr GA Capuano) writes:
|> : With all the excellent details and data comung in have there been any
|> : reports of "flashes" seen on the moons ? also, when will Galileo be
|> : sending images.?
|> : thanks.
|>
|> I and several otherse observed the whole K impact last night, we
|> noticed no flashes off Europa in eclipse. It would seem there was no firebal
l
|> at all, or at least none visible in amateur scopes.
The Anglo-Australian Telescope was observing K last night in IR,
they saw no flash at all, but did see the impact site when it
rotated into view. I guess that's one for further study :)
|>
|>
|>
|> --
|> Glenn Capuano, 3rd year BSc | "..and if your eye got poked out in
|> Monash Univerity | this life...would it be waiting up
|> Melb. Vic. Australia | in heaven with your wife?"
|> gacap1@ccds.cc.monash.edu.au | - Crash Test Dummies
--
______________________________________________________________________
Brett Holman holman@tauon.ph.unimelb.edu.au
School of Physics
University of Melbourne I can't believe that I, let alone the Uni,
AUSTRALIA would hold the opinions expressed here.
Stop quoting the laws to us. We carry swords. - Pompey the Great