Huge explosion spotted on Jupiter

September 12, 2012
by Emma Woollacott

An amateur astronomer in Dallas has filmed an enormous explosion on Jupiter which took place early on Sunday morning.

George Hall says the incident was first noted by Dan Peterson, prompting Hall to examine his footage and find he had recorded the event.

Petersen says the explosion occurred at 11:35:30 UT, just inside Jupiter's eastern limb, at about Longitude 1 = 335, and Latitude = + 12 degrees north. The flash appeared to be about 100 miles in diameter. the rest

"All of a sudden, a brilliant pinpoint of blazing white light started to grow and brighten just inside Jupiter's morning limb, this was in stark contrast to the planets yellowish color, its shape was slightly elliptical in it's north/south axis and was about as bright in appearance as a fourth magnitude star," says Peterson.