Apparently, no one knows what hit Jupiter - the "scar" on Jupiter from the impact was spotted by an amateur after the fact, and now there's something of a race on to figure out what happened:

Something invaded our solar system and whacked Jupiter, but professional astronomers were looking the other way at the time. Now, as the shock wave slowly subsides, astronomers are working around the clock to find out exactly what hit Jupiter - and why they didn't see it coming.

It's enough to make me wonder whether the lame "asteroid strike" sci-fi flicks might not be so far off (in terms of the risk, not their resolutions) as I might like to think...

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