An extremely bright 10.3 micron source was observed on Jupiter following the impact of comet fragment "L" using the Goddard Infrared Array Camera at the ARC Apache Point 3.5-meter telescope. Because of difficult weather conditions the source was acquired at 22:42 UT (about 20 minutes after flux density of about 3000 Janskys (about 5 times the flux density of Alpha Boo), and appeared to fade over the following hour by about 50%. The event was also seen as a dramatic dark spot in visible light at the focal plane of the 3.5-meter telescope.
Dan Gezari, Drake Deming, Bob Loewenstein, Frank Varosi, Larry Woods
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