Cosmic collision: Jupiter hit by either a comet or asteroid
The largest planet in the solar system recently collided with either an asteroid or a comet, making for spectacular stargazing viewing for thrilled space enthusiasts.
Rare and incredible footage was uploaded to YouTube and has since sent social media into a meltdown.
The vision has been viewed almost 150,000 times since it was first posted.
“This is the time-lapse of processed images leading to the impact on Jupiter March 17,” John McKeon - who posted the footage - wrote on YouTube.
“The original purpose of the imaging session was to get this time-lapse, with a happy coincidence of the impact in the second last capture of the night.”
It’s not known whether the object that hit the planet was indeed a comet or asteroid however a NASA scientist indicated on Space.com it was most likely an asteroid.
"It's more likely to be an asteroid simply because there are more of them," the scientist told Space.com.
According to Space.com amateur astronomer McKeon was recording the transit of Jupiter's moons Io and Ganymede with an 11-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and his ASI120mm camera when the unusual event occurred.
McKeon was one of several ‘skywatchers’ to capture the impact.
Gerrit Kernbauer, who resides in Austria, didn’t realize he had filmed the rare occurrence at first as he didn’t watch the video until 10 days later.
“I found this strange light spot that appeared for less than one second on the edge of the planetary disc,” Kernbauer later wrote.
“Thinking back to Shoemaker-Levy 9, my only explanation for this is an asteroid or comet that enters Jupiter’s high atmosphere and burned up/explode very fast,” he then continued.
Fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet slammed into Jupiter in 1994 as stunned astronomers looked on creating what is often referred to as “one of the most spectacular celestial displays ever witnessed.”
Recently other rare and incredible footage has surfaced sending celestial enthusiasts into overdrive.
Perseid meteor shower amazes stargazers
Stargazers rejoice as the planets align
NASA releases video of meteor hurtling towards Earth
