What was this flash near Jupiter?

[Bolligrew]

Apologies if this is in the wrong place, or my etiquette is off, this is my first post on here

I was setting up my 5" reflector on Monday night (21/09/2020) when I noticed a bright flash in the vicinity of Jupiter.  Anyone any idea what it could be?

I initially assumed it was a satellite flare, or possibly an optical effect within the scope, but it's odd that it is so close to the planet.

Apologies for the quality of the video, I'd just started to set up; focus the camera and set the exposure.  The camera is a cheap webcam mod and I'm using the free version of SharpCap 3

 

 

[Geoff Barnes]

Hi @Bolligrew
and welcome to the forum.

The mere fact that thousands of other astronomers would have had their telescopes trained on Jupiter at the same time as you and not reported anything unusual would indicate it was something peculiar to your equipment.

Now what it could be other than simple lens flare I have no idea. Otber members will be along soon with their suggestions I'm sure. 😁

[Pete Presland]

Looks like some sort of Optical aberration  to me. If you scroll through the frames, the Moons distort at around the same time as Jupiter does. The distortion travels around the disc as well.

[RobertI]

The flash appears to be moving in the opposite direction to Jupiter which suggests a reflection or ghost image to me? 

[Stu]

I would agree, it’s something in the objective of the camera, possibly muck of some sort which is causing a distortion as Jupiter passes through that area.

[markse68]

If i manage to get out in time tonight I’ll check if Jupiter’s alright and not missing a chunk

Mark

[Bolligrew]

I can confirm that a huge chunk of Jupiter detached itself and is currently sitting on the CCD of my camera.  I took some shots of the Moon and there was a big shadow at the same location as the Jupiter flash.  Now I just have to get it off without making the contamination worse.

Shame though, a flash this bright at Jupiter could only have been caused by an event orders of magnitude bigger than the Shoemaker-Levy impact.  I could have been famous