Guys, the seeing was the worst ever here in Dublin last night so no images from last night. BTW thanks Keith for posting the times as I didn;t get the chance to do that. Hopefully we'll get the chance to grab some decent imagery of it before it fades.
Martin: You really didn't see the SL9 event in 1994? Hate to rub it in but a few of us also got to spend a lovely afternoon in Sligo with the late Gene Shoemaker and his lovely wife in 1995. (Reminder: to self must scan those slides of that day!). I'll never forget it as long as I live. I was helping out at an astronomy ireland event in Dublin. I was setting up the scope, looked at jupiter and there was two big black eyes looking back at me, i'll never forget it. They were like big panda eyes. Definitely the highlight of my astronomical life.
Anyway back on topic. Further news that JPL has now confirmed an impact event.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2009-112(a little dissapointed at how Anthony Wesley's contribution is played down in the above article to be honest)
Keck were looking at it today also.
What really interests me is the discussion on the nature of the impactor. My money is on a comet. If you look closely at Anthony's image you can see two little spots at thefour o clock position to the main spot. This suggest to me that this was a fragmented body. Given that the immediate around Jupiter should be pretty clear of minor planets then this all would suggest a comet or perhaps a loosly bound minor planet in a highly elliptical orbit perhaps?
Anyway thats my 2 cent.
