File:Collision Leaves Jupiter Bruised.jpg

English: This Hubble Space Telescope picture shows a dark smudge at bottom right where debris from a comet or asteroid plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere and disintegrated.

In addition to the impact site, the image reveals a spectacular variety of shapes in the swirling atmosphere of Jupiter. The planet is wrapped in bands of yellow, brown, and white clouds. These bands are produced by the atmosphere flowing in different directions at various latitudes. When these opposing flows interact, turbulence appears.

This is one of the first images taken by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 instrument, installed on Hubble during the 2009 servicing mission.

Later evidence would indicate that an asteroid rather than a comet impacted the planet.

For more information, visit: hubblesite.org/image/2573/news_release/2009-25

Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Wong (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.), H. B. Hammel (Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.), and the Jupiter Impact Team