"Potential Impact On Saturn": Astronomers Appeal For Help As Video Appears To Show Object Hitting The Gas Giant

IFLScience ^ | July 7, 2025 | James Felton

[simpson96]

Like massive Jupiter, Saturn’s gravity took out (in this case, “took in”) something that could have one day been a threat to Earth.

[TangoLimaSierra]

That impact probably would have destroyed us.

Sure glad we have Jupiter and Saturn sucking up giant errant fly-bys.

[BigFreakinToad]

it’s good to have a couple gas giants in the outer system to take one for the team

[Lake Living]

How disappointing! I opened this article thinking it was about Stacy Abrams. /s

[epluribus_2]

And so the solar system game of billiards begins...

[shotgun]

[SunkenCiv]

😁

[SunkenCiv]

The first impact at least hit on the “night side” of Jupiter and wasn’t visible from Earth. The Hubble was watching like a hawk, and the Galileo probe was orbiting Jupiter at the time.

https://solarviews.com/eng/impact.htm

[SunkenCiv]

Try reading the excerpt.

[SunkenCiv]

Give or take where the impact occurred, anything a half-mile or more in diameter would end civilization and probably kill more than 99% of the human population. 😒

[Clay Moore]

Another victim of global warming caused by the United States use of the infernal combustion engine. So sad. 😭

[telescope115]

Thanks for correcting me. I should’ve said the only photos from an Earthbound Observatory! My bad…

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks for your comments! The now ancient Nat Geog documentary “Asteroids: Deadly Impact” shot some of the footage at the Hubble team HQ, hmm, I wonder if that’s online anywhere...

Ah! backstory starts around the 40 minute mark. Hey, July 21 is the anniversary of the first hit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgO1adlEM8

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0270210/

[telescope115]

Thanks for hunting that documentary down! What an exciting time that was! It’s too bad Gene Shoemaker was killed in a car accident some years later. His passion certainly made us richer in knowledge.

[SunkenCiv]

That was sad. Odd, too.

[telescope115]

It was unfortunate. We lost a great scientist.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Sadly my first thought was to wonder how many billions of dollars they wanted to fix the damage.

Glad to see that they just want anyone who saw it to send in their photos.

[SunkenCiv]

He led the charge regarding Solar System and other space debris as impactors on the Earth. Of course, he was on his third try. It took 20 comet fragments hitting Jupiter to finally get the idea accepted, but hey, no one lives there, so, no harm done. :^)

[telescope115]

Yeah, it’s a shame he never got to go to the Moon.

[SunkenCiv]

I think the record for that goes to Jim Lovell, who went to the Moon twice but never got to land. 😎