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Hubble Photographs Jupiter's New "Scar"

BearRanger writes "Calibration of new systems in the Hubble Space Telescope (installed in May by Shuttle Atlantis astronauts) were interrupted to take pictures of the new 'scar' near the south pole of Jupiter. The scar is believed to have been caused by the impact of an asteroid or small comet with the gas giant, which we discussed last Sunday. Hubble's return to service will be delayed by this interruption, but NASA says that rare events such as this warrant the delay. This is only the second recorded impact of an object with Jupiter."

6 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Cult Watch by WED+Fan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    After Art Bell hyped the Hale-Bopp as spaceship with Major Ed Dames, the Heaven's Gate cult offed themselves, thinking they were going home to their reward. I bet Dames and fellow snake oil salesman, Richard C. Hoagland are spinning this one for some sort of prophecy. Watch Hoagland tie his 19.5 Cosmic Math and Masonic rituals into it.

    If you are in a cult, now is the time to turn down the bowl of apple sauce and free pairs of Nike.

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    Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
  2. Hubble seems really upgraded by ZosX · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is a pretty great image. I don't remember shots of jupiter looking anywhere near this good before. I really can't wait to see what the new hubble is capable of producing.

  3. Size by gmerideth · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Has there been any mention of the size of that scar? I know the red spot can hold 2-3 earths but what size is that scar?

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    Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
  4. Ominous... by TimHunter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Okay, first there's a mysterious "scar" on Jupiter, and now the tides are inexplicably higher than normal. (http://www.newsobserver.com/news/health_science/story/1620869.html). I don't know about anybody else, but I'm waiting for the aliens to land.

  5. Future probes by WindBourne · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Will likely have a LOT more fuel and much longer life. I suspect that all future probes will be using ion thrusters combined with some long life nukes. VASMIR is going to be a major change for such probes even though I am not sure that it is the ideal choice for small thrusters. As it is, we will have much larger rockets that are capable of sending probes like New Horizon, Dawn etc. on a fast trip loaded with LOTS of fuel esp. if using these thrusters.

    In fact, if America was not hurting financially as bad as we are, I think that it would be useful to see us send a new set of voyagers using a ares V/Direct launcher, a great deal more nukes, and obviously a lot of fuel for a vasmir. We could get outside of the solar system in a relatively short period of time, while doing a LOT more exploration.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  6. Monoliths by dottyslashdottydot · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A black expanding spot on Jupiter... where have I heard that before? I guess it's happening a year earlier than Arthur C. Clarke predicted?