Meteor At Jupiter

After putting the Hubble Space Telescope on the case, astronomers have decided the object that smacked into Jupiter June 3 was a meteor, not a comet or asteroid. For the collision to be visible from Earth, it was likely a huge meteor, but finally not more than that.

Astronomers base their conclusion on images of Jupiter taken by Hubble on June 7. The images showed no dark areas in the Jovian atmosphere, as were seen after the string of impacts of pieces of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994, and after the impact of an asteroid last July. Astronomers conclude, therefore, that the June 3 object burned up high in the atmosphere, much as most meteors do on Earth.

The new bit of science is the result of work by two amateur astronomers. Andrew Wesley of Australia first reported a flash of light at Jupiter, and his observation was confirmed by another amateur, Chris Go, in The Philippines.