Space Odyssey 2009: Hubble Snaps Scary Closeup of Jupiter Impact

The revamped Hubble telescope captured this image of an impact scar near Jupiter’s south pole. The image above is the sharpest yet of the Pacific Ocean–sized impact site, which was first observed by world's luckiest amateur astronomer since Galileo, Anthony Wesley. The image was shot by the world’s coolest gadget, the Wide Field Camera 3, which was installed during the most-recent servicing mission to the telescope in May.

The Jupiter impact event is another big red line underscoring Stephen Hawking’s theory that one of the major factors in the possible scarcity of intelligent life in our galaxy is the high probability of an asteroid or comet colliding with inhabited planets.

Companion post: Pacific-Ocean-Sized Explosion On Jupiter Highlights the Hawking “Asteroid” Theory

Companion post:

Source: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2009/23/image/d/format/web/