A fleeting glow observed on Saturn on July 5th has puzzled scientists. This potentially unprecedented event could mark the first detection of an impact on the gas giant.
The ringed planet, lacking a solid surface, does not retain visible traces after a collision. Yet, an amateur astronomer captured a luminous anomaly matching the characteristics of a cosmic impact. Experts are calling for contributions to confirm or refute this hypothesis.
The detected flash is in the blue cross. A rare and hard-to-observe phenomenon
Models estimate that an object over one kilometer (0.62 miles) in size hits Saturn approximately every 3,125 years. Smaller impacts, though more frequent, usually escape direct observation. Unlike the Moon or Mars, gas giants absorb collisions without leaving lasting scars.
The DeTeCt project, dedicated to the automatic analysis of planetary images, flagged this anomaly. Specialized software detected a brief illumination in images taken at 9:07 UTC. Data from the Cassini probe also suggest these events might be more common than expected.
The scientific community remains cautious about this discovery. Only additional observations will validate the impact hypothesis. Several amateur telescopes pointed at Saturn at that precise moment could hold the key to solving the mystery.
An ongoing collaborative investigation
The Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) is coordinating efforts to cross-check data. Astronomers are actively searching for other recordings covering the same time frame. A confirmation would open new perspectives on the dynamics of the Saturnian system.
Collisions on Jupiter, better documented, produce similar flashes. In 1994, the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was particularly spectacular. For Saturn, no such event has yet been formally authenticated. The challenge lies in the brevity and faint luminosity of these phenomena.
Article author: Cédric DEPOND