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

IFLScience ^ | July 7, 2025 | James Felton

[SunkenCiv]

Astronomers at the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) are appealing for help, after an image taken by NASA's Mario Rana appears to show an object slamming into Saturn.

Saturn, like Jupiter, is a gas giant. With their impressive masses, you would expect these giants to attract their share of asteroid impacts. Unlike terrestrial planets, which are usually left with an obvious crater after impact, on gas giants, it is not entirely obvious. With outer layers primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, any trace of an impact can disappear.

Astronomers have attempted to model how many impacts take place on the gas giant. One recent study put the number of impacts by objects over 1 kilometer at around 3.2 × 10−3 yr−1 ( 0.0032 per year, or 1 every 3,125 years). Smaller impacts are thought to be more common, with Cassini data showing that impacts can leave telltale ripples in Saturn's rings...

Despite these impacts being relatively common – around 8,000 meteorites impact Earth every year – we have never observed an object hitting Saturn. Until, just maybe, now. On Saturday, July 5, NASA's Mario Rana captured a potential impact, which has now been reported to the Planetary Virtual Observatory & Laboratory (PVOL).

The bright flash highlighted in the left side of the picture has the appearance of an impact event. Objects have been observed slamming into Jupiter every now and then, producing similar flashes...

Any astronomers who have observations from this time are urged to contact Delcroix to submit their data. Hopefully, soon we will have further observations from Saturday, helping us to confirm whether we have seen our first ever impact with gas giant Saturn.

---

TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; catastrophism; impact; mariorana; nasa; saturn; science

[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. 😎