---
title: "Something Enormous Just Smashed Into Jupiter"
description: "Jupiter got hit by something so big on Wednesday that a photographer was able to capture the impact using a telescope in his backyard."
date: "2019-08-09"
modified: "2019-08-09"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/jupiter-hit-enormous-meteor"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "astrophotography"
  - "jupiter"
  - "the digest"
---

# Something Enormous Just Smashed Into Jupiter

![Jupiter got hit by something so big on Wednesday that a photographer was able to capture the impact using a telescope in his backyard.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/jupiter-hit-enormous-meteor.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Planetary Punch

On Wednesday night, Jupiter got hit by something so big that a photographer was able to [capture the impact](<https://www.cnet.com/news/jupiter-just-got-slammed-by-something-so-big-we-saw-it-from-earth/>) using a telescope in his backyard.

Based on the stunning images, astronomers believe it could've been a meteor impact — an event so fleeting, it's rarely caught on camera.

https://twitter.com/ChappelAstro/status/1158985609224044549?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

## Software Assist

In the images astrophotographer Ethan Chappel shared, a tiny white spot appears and then winks out on the lower left side of [Jupiter](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jupiter-great-red-spot-dying>).

That briefness is what astronomers would expect from a meteor impact, and it's also what makes the events so difficult to detect — in fact, Chappel didn't even notice it at the time.

"I did not see the flash while recording," he [told *ScienceAlert*](<https://www.sciencealert.com/rare-and-breathtaking-video-of-a-meteor-exploding-on-jupiter>). "I only noticed it afterwards thanks to a great piece of software called DeTeCt by Marc Delcroix, which is designed specifically for finding these flashes."

## Rare Sighting

Once Chappel realized what he'd caught on camera, however, he told *ScienceAlert* he felt the need to share it with "people who would find the results useful" — and it seems those people are happy he did.

"To get a video like that, I've never seen anything like that before," University of Southern Queensland astronomer Jonti Horner told *ScienceAlert*. "That's just totally breathtaking."

**READ MORE:** [A Meteor Just Exploded On Jupiter, And A Photographer Actually Caught It On Video](<https://www.sciencealert.com/rare-and-breathtaking-video-of-a-meteor-exploding-on-jupiter>) \[*Science Alert*\]

**More on Jupiter:** *[Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Is Dying](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/jupiter-great-red-spot-dying>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)