Tag Archives: Jupiter

Stories of Astronomy 2012

An amateur crashes onto the scene

THE DARK SPOT ON JUPITER FIRST DISCOVERED BY AMATEUR ASTRONOMER ANTHONY WESLEY, AS PHOTOGRAPHED BY THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ON 23 JULY 2010. CREDIT: NASA/ESA/H. HAMMEL (SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLO.)/THE JUPITER IMPACT TEAM.
THE DARK SPOT ON JUPITER FIRST DISCOVERED BY AMATEUR ASTRONOMER ANTHONY WESLEY, AS PHOTOGRAPHED BY THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE ON 23 JULY 2010. CREDIT: NASA/ESA/H. HAMMEL (SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE, BOULDER, COLO.)/THE JUPITER IMPACT TEAM.

Modern astronomy seems dominated by huge, expensive and powerful machines staffed by highly trained professionals. Yet significant findings can still be made by people like Anthony Wesley, a computer software engineer and amateur astronomer who lives just north of Canberra.

About 12.40 am on 20 July 2009, Anthony—who loves to keep an eye on Jupiter with his 14.5 inch (36.83 cm) diameter reflecting telescope— noticed a small black spot near the south pole of his favourite planet. It was in the wrong place and the wrong size to be a moon, he says, and also it was moving too slowly. In fact, it was moving at the same pace as a nearby storm. Continue reading An amateur crashes onto the scene →