Anthony Wesley

Anthony Wesley (born 1965 or 1966)^[1] is an Australian computer programmer and amateur astronomer, known for his discoveries of the 2009 and 2010 Jupiter impact events.

Background

Wesley was born in Glen Innes, Australia in 1965.^[2] At as early as ten years old, he was given a small telescope, which sparked his interest in stargazing.^[3] By 2003 Wesley had become involved in planetary photography. Over time his work became more focused on Jupiter, leading to his discoveries of the 2009 and 2010 impact events.^[1] Prior to these discoveries, scientists did not believe impacts of this relatively small size could be observed from Earth.^[2] Wesleys' work also brought to light the vital role amateur astronomers play in space discovery.^[1]^[4]

Impact discoveries

2009

On 19 July 2009 at approximately 13:30, Wesley found fame after discovering a scar near Jupiter's south pole the size of the Pacific Ocean.^[1] Wesley discovered the impact at approximately 13:30 UTC on On 19 July 2009 (almost exactly 15 years after the Jupiter impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, or SL9), Wesley discovered an impact on Jupiter that caused a black spot in the planet's atmosphere. He was at his home observatory just outside Murrumbateman, New South Wales, Australia, using stacked images on a 36.8-centimetre (14.5 in) diameter reflecting telescope equipped with a low light machine vision video camera attached to the telescope.^[5]

2010

On 3 June 2010, Wesley was away from his home visiting a friend, when with a 37-centimetre (15 in) telescope he took an image of a small celestial object burning up in the Jupiter atmosphere.^[2] The observed flash lasted about two seconds.^[1] The object was believed to be an asteroid, making it the first image of a meteorite hitting a planet.^[4]

The find was praised by NASA and fellow astronomers, who were under the impression that after the 1994 collision another would not be expected for several hundred years.^[1]^[4]