Jupiter Likely Holds Large Amounts of Water, Raises Prospects for Life

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Yes!

That was the most fascinating news article I had ever seen, and one of the most interesting observations made by a telescope, of an event within our solar system to this very day. I cannot think of a cosmic event which amazed me and impressed me to that degree. Even the total eclipse that I saw while on a camping trip as a young lad, did not move me to the same degree as seeing these enormous chunks of material, slam into a ball of gas, and explode as if they had hit a solid object.

By that point, I already knew that hitting water too fast, from too high of a height, in the wrong orientation, could be deadly. You would hear of people being injured or dying while diving from height of course, and I knew that material regularly broke up in the atmosphere of our planet, but this was the first time I had ever SEEN such a thing occur on video. It was, and remains amazing footage, and an absolutely awesome moment in the history of both television, and astronomy.

a reply to: TrueBrit
It was a trmendous event wasn't it
I have to disagree about the total eclipse of the sun, that was the most amazing celestial event I have ever seen.
I was stood on a clifftop and saw the shadow rushing towards me from the sea. It went suddenly cold, the gulls roosted, and when the light came soaring back across the sea the gulls went nuts again. I'll never forget it.

The Jupiter comet strike was the best thing I've seen from images though for sure.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I would say the eclipse was the best live experience I have ever had, from the point of view of witnessing a celestial event, closely followed by a meteor shower I saw when I was about seventeen.

The reason I rate the Jupiter collision so highly though, is because the path of those fragments, and the body which they used to comprise, was so much larger than the path the Moon takes around Earth, therefore there were so many more variables that played into how it panned out, and the fact that its parts hit Jupiter may have been predictable, but the mechanics that got them to that point were more complex and interesting.

The Moon is great, and the eclipse felt magical to watch, but just from the perspective of the sheer scale of it, the collision with Jupiter just stole the show for me.

a reply to: TrueBrit
I'm torn now haha, okay, best live event with naked eye eclipse of the sun, best on camera, Jupiter bashed by the comet.
...Comet Halley was pretty amazing when that was in the sky as well, only ever seen 3 meteors, they were cool, damn cloudy UK weather!