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On August 20th at 18:22 UT, amateur astronomer Masayuki Tachikawa of Kumamoto city, Japan, video-recorded an apparent impact on Jupiter. This is the third time in only 13 months that amateur astronomers have detected signs of impact on Jupiter. The earlier events occurred on July 19, 2009, and June 3, 2010. Jupiter is getting hit more often than conventional wisdom would suggest, leading many researchers to call for a global network of telescopes to monitor Jupiter 24/7 and measure the impact rate. “Like the event of June 3rd, this fireball did not produce any visible debris," notes John Rogers, director of the British Astronomical Association's Jupiter section.

The first ever observed extraterrestrial impact was predicted by astronomers Carolyn and Eugene M. Shoemaker and David Levy, and occurred in mid July, 1994. The prominent scars from the impacts caused by the fragmented comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 were more easily visible than the Great Red Spot and persisted for many months. Go to spaceweather.com to learn more about the latest collision, and to see the original video that captures this impact.