Indeed ... but given that the impact mark is so large, by comparison with SL9 we're talking about a 1 Km +, possibly 2 Km diameter object; I think a "fresh" comet would have some sort of tail if it were out by Jupiter and should have been detected long since. Don't forget that, the more we look at even small asteroids, the more we find have small satellites.
The news media seem to be studiously avoiding reporting this event, not even a whisper on e.g. the science page on the BBC News site.
I would not be surprised one little bit if even a comet of this size went undetected. For lots of reasons. It is likely to be a fresh 'first timer' and may well have come from jupiter's blind side. A 1-2k object at Jupiter's distance would be in the mag +20 range. Also I wouldn't expect too much of a tail out by Jupiter. Also surveys would tend to avoid searching the area immediately around Jupiter meaning that the only chance for it to be detected was when it was not in the Jupiter zone and hence even further away and fainter.
I see what you mean about the news media, I suspect this is due in part to all of the unknowns which still exist. I also heard that JPL are aware that some of us are unhappy that Anthony's part in all of this was understated by them.
