Jupiter Takes One for the Team

A large asteroid or meteor struck Jupiter on Monday, an incident which was captured on video by amateur astronomer George Hall. The brief impact was automatically captured by his trusty telescope.

Jupiters massive gravitational field effectively 'hoovers up' stray asteroids, comets and meteors, drawing them into its gaseous bulk. In 1994 the comet Shoemaker-Levy broke into 20 pieces before pelting the face of Jupiter, leaving scars the size of the Pacific Ocean on the surface.