SL9-like impact-traces on Jupiter?
Abstract
At the end of the 19th century under the influence of Miklós Konkoly Thege planetary observations - drawings of Jupiter among them - were regularly carried out in three Hungarian observatories, at Ógyalla, at Hereny and at Kiskartal. In 1994, after observing the very conspicuous traces of the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 (SL9) into Jupiter, several astronomers recognised the importance of ancient recording (in the form of drawings or photos) of phenomena on the disc of Jupiter, supposing that they may report on previous similar impacts. For that purpose astronomical archives have been investigated in order to find pictures pointing to possible cases. Looking over Jupiter observations carried out in former Hungarian astronomical observatories I came to the conclusion that among the 222 drawings there may be three which are `suspicious', representing SL9-like impacts on the planetary disc. On the one hand the drawing by Konkoly Thege on September 10, 1879 and the one made by Wonaszek on April 15, 1897 display a train of 5 and 4 small dark spots respectively, and on the other hand the picture made by J. Gothard on February 4, 1884 seems to illustrate one huge fresh impact spot.
- Publication:
-
Miklós Konkoly Thege (1842-1916). 100 Years of Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Pub Date:
- October 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001mkt..book...75I