Discussion

Some news about the Jupiter flash which was detected on September 10. I reported the absence of detection in the visible light from data collected by amateur astronomers. Glenn Orton, a  colleague from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,  sent me yesterday two observations of Jupiter taking with the IRTF telescope and the SpeX Guiding camera in the near-infrared. No scar, or debris field, can be seen at the location of the flash. The meteoroid did not enter in the inner part of the planet atmosphere. This observation confirms that it was most likely a meteor. [caption id="attachment_1417" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="2.3 um observations... read more ❯

An amateur astronomer reported the visual detection of a fireball on Jupiter at 11:35 UT (September 10 2012) last night. It was confirmed on a video recorded from Texas. This is the 6th impact of Jupiter detected so far. Astronomer Dan Petersen saw today September 10 2012 at  11:35 UT a bright flash on Jupiter which lasted 1 or 2 seconds. It estimated its... read more ❯

Yesterday, my SETI Institute colleagues and I had a discussion about the importance of NASA in the minds of people in the USA, and around the world. The achievements of NASA are definitely universal and the latest interest of people for Curiosity, the car-sized rover which landed recently on Mars, is a vivid example. It is inspirational for the scientists to see that our friends and family follow with interest, the development of the mission, its challenging landing, the first step of the rover, and more recently its first self-portrait. The NASA planetary exploration program is a superb scientific and exploration endeavor,... read more ❯