http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090721/lf_nm_life/us_jupiter_asteroid

Quote:

CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) – A large comet or asteroid has slammed into Jupiter, creating an impact site the size of Earth, pictures by an Australian amateur astronomer show. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed the discovery using its large infrared telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, said computer programer Anthony Wesley, 44, who discovered the impact zone while stargazing at home. News of Wesley's find on a backyard 14.5-inch reflecting telescope has stunned the astronomy world, with scientists saying the impact will last only days more. Wesley said it took him 30 minutes to realize a dark spot rotating in Jupiter's clouds on July 19 was actually the first impact seen by astronomers since a comet collided with the giant planet in July 1994. "I thought (it) likely to be just a normal dark polar storm," he said on his website www.acquerra.com.au/astro. "However as it rotated further into view and the conditions improved I suddenly realized that it wasn't just dark, it was black in all channels, meaning it was truly a black spot," Wesley said from his home at Murrumbateman, north of Canberra. Photographs show the impact zone, or "scar," near Jupiter's south polar region, with gases seen in infrared images. "We are extremely lucky to be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of Jupiter to witness the event. We couldn't have planned it better," NASA JPL scientist Glenn Orton told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. Orton confirmed the spot was an impact site and not a localized weather event in Jupiter's swirling surface, similar to the planet's famed red spot. (Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Jupiter is like our Oort Cloud bodyguard. Thanks Jupiter!

Too bad you won't be able to intercept the asteroid heading Earth's way in 2029 (and later, 2036). Oh well. That darn orbital plane will have you elsewhere. We'll find a way to manage on our own.

Vote for Jupiter 2012 imo..

you know nothing of astronomy ... clearly w are all going to die june 6th 2006

Yeah I was reading that they won't know for sure until 2013, because in that year they'll be able to track it further into the future due to its orbit.

As of right now, though, it's a 1:45,000 chance and a 0 on the Torino scale. There has been higher odds flybys in recent years, but one never knows for sure

dosn't matter, the world ends 12, 20, 2012

Here's my opinion.

We are ALL going to die some time so it doesn't matter whether it's now or in 2010 or in fucking what year...

Thank you professor Steve.

i love you steve. in a compleatly hom.... heterosexual way.

EDIT: And no, Java. I'm not going to Ben Affleck my ass up onto the asteroid and blow it up.

its Bruce Willis steve, though Ben Afflek was in the movie

Yeah, you're right. I need to watch Armageddon again.

I'd rather be Bruce Willis than Ben Affleck anyways.