For the first time in history… something strange happened on Saturn and someone recorded it! In the planet known for its rings everything was in calm, as always, but one day… a bright light appeared for a short time on the planet’s surface. This was so short that nobody on Earth noticed it at that moment. However, someone recorded a video of this phenomenon, and scientists could later see what happened and they were shocked.

The person who recoded this video was a volunteer, and this is not the first time volunteers are the ones starting a discovery. So, let’s find out more about this interesting story.

What telescopes didn’t catch

Maybe you are part of those who consider Saturn as one of the most beautiful planets of the solar system, but you should know that it’s also one of the calmest. However, on July 5 of this year, around 9:00 a.m. UTC, a very bright light showed up on the planet for a few seconds.

How was it possible to catch the light in just a few seconds? Was it thanks to highly advanced technology? Not really, it was thanks to an amateur astronomer called Mario Rana. Mario is part of a project called DeTeCt, and also a volunteer at NASA.

The man behind the video was recording a video of Saturn with his telescope when he saw something strange on it: A flash of light that shouldn’t have been there. It’s true there wasn’t much footage, but it was enough to catch scientists’ attention around the world. Why? Because if the theory of something hitting Saturn is what happened, this would be the first time it’s caught on camera. Prior to this, similar impacts were only seen in Jupiter.

What could it be?

There’s nothing clear yet about what could cause that flash. However, the most possible idea is that an object from space hit Saturn, maybe a meteoroid or something bigger. However, it’s important to know that Saturn is not like Earth or the Moon, it’s a giant planet made of gas, mostly hydrogen and helium. This means that when something hits its atmosphere, it doesn’t leave a crater nor visible mark, instead the object is destroyed immediately, swallowed by the clouds, and the planet’s gas. So, it would basically disappear.

Scientists estimate that small objects hit Saturn around 7 or 8 times a year, but it was never possible to see the exact moment of the impact. That’s why Mario’s video is so important!

Not enough proof

Obviously, Mario’s video is very helpful, and it means an important contribution to the scientific field. However, to really confirm it was an impact, scientists need more evidence because it could be anything, from a camera error to an interference, or even a cosmic ray that appeared at that exact moment. What are scientists doing then? They are asking for help from other people who were observing Saturn the same day and at the same time Mario was recording the video.

If they get someone who did this, it would be great to compare both images to know whether the flash of light was a real thing, where did it came from, and even estimate the size of the object that hit the planet.

An historic moment got on camera

Of course, the discovery is so important, but do you know what’s another remarkable aspect about this? The fact that this discovery was made by someone who just loves the universe and decided to record Saturn at that moment. Now, powerful telescopes like the James Webb could join the search for more information to better understand what happened.

As you can see, anyone can be part of a scientific discovery. So, who knows if you will discover something in the future?