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Jupiter After the 2009 Impact: Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Impact-Generated Debris and Its Temporal EvolutionWe report Hubble Space Telescope images of Jupiter during the aftermath of an impact by an unknown object in 2009 July, The 2009 impact-created debris field evolved more slowly than those created in 1994 by the collision of the tidally disrupted comet D/Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9). The slower evolution, in conjunction with the isolated nature of this single impact, permits a more detailed assessment of the altitudes and meridional motion of the debris than was possible with SL9. The color of the 2009 debris was markedly similar to that seen in 1994, thus this dark debris is likely to be Jovian material that is highly thermally processed. The 2009 impact site differed from the 1994 SL9 sites in UV morphology and contrast lifetime; both are suggestive of the impacting body being asteroidal rather than cometary. Transport of the 2009 Jovian debris as imaged by Hubble shared similarities with transport of volcanic aerosols in Earth's atmosphere after major eruptions.
Document ID
20100024535
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Hammel, H. B.
(Space Science Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Wong, M. H.
(Space Telescope Science Inst. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Clarke, J. T.
(Boston Univ. Boston, MA, United States)
de Pater, I.
(California Univ. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Fletcher, L. N.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hueso, R.
(Universidad del Pais Vasco Bilbao, Spain)
Noll, K.
(Space Telescope Science Inst. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Orton, G. S.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Perez-Hoyos, S.
(Universidad del Pais Vasco Bilbao, Spain)
Sanchez-Lavega, A.
(Universidad del Pais Vasco Bilbao, Spain)
Simon-Miller, A. A.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Yanamandra-Fisher, P. A.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 2010
Publication Information
Publication: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Volume: 715
Issue: 2
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS5-26555
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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