Amateur astronomers all over the world are craning their necks up to the heavens to see a collision of a disintegrating
Comet with the planet Jupiter and our science editor Michael Gellin joins us from the Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
And Michael, why don't you bring us up to date on the fireworks in outer space this weekend and actually even this morning
Yeah, it's an incredible story. I'm gonna get right into let me remind everybody what we're talking about
We have a picture of the comet fragments
They're labeled a through W at latest count. They're about 20 maybe 21 22. We're not quite sure
They're all streaming towards Jupiter even as we speak
some
Seven of them have actually already hit and the
Pictures that we're getting back to are just amazing going into the weekend
There was an interesting bet going on between the scientists
Let's say there were the rice throwers who thought that those fragments would disintegrate even further into nothing
But gravel so that when they hit Jupiter they would hardly cause any effect like throwing rice at a couple of newlyweds
And then there were the rock throwers if you will who thought now those fragments are gonna hold together
And so when they hit Jupiter, they're gonna give them a real black eye
Well, they're the ones who won the bet with me this morning as one of the losers though, although he's pretty happy loser
This is dr. Keith. No, he's an astronomer with the Hubble Space Telescope
You're not at all displeased that you lost the bet right? You're a rice thrower
How are you feeling this morning? I'm I'm very happy to be wrong and
I'm exhausted for one thing because we haven't had much sleep, but I'm astonished and elated
This has been a tremendous last couple of days. Okay, let's go right to the pictures then Keith
Yeah, let's go to the picture. We got just a few minutes ago. It's the latest picture of the impact
Well, actually I'll tell you what let's go first to a picture of Jupiter, which is the beforehand
Okay, this is the brand new one then let's let's take our viewers through it. First of all, Jupiter has these bands of clouds
But there is this feature on the lower right hand. What is that? That's a large
Essentially a storm system in Jupiter's atmosphere. It's been there for a hundred years or more
It's essentially a giant hurricane, but it's larger than the earth. It's larger than the earth. That's called the Great Red Spot
Now what about that black dot on the upper left hand part of the picture? Is that an impact?
That's one of Jupiter's large moons that just happened to be passing in front of Jupiter when we made this image
That's the moon Io. All right now that we've got the viewer
Oriented the impacts are actually happening down there in the southern portion of the planet and there are three of them
Describe them to us. Would you keep there are three?
Impacts as you said the one on the right at the lower. It's that dark spot spot is
Impact E that's a fairly fresh one. That's just about three hours old
The next one over is the very first one that hit that's now full day old 24 hours
And then just at the left edge you can see impact C coming around and that one's about 12 hours old
Now what's interesting is that the impacts are black?
Compared to the rest of the planet. Do we understand why I actually think that's been one of the surprises
Whatever this material is that's coming out of these impacts is darker than the surrounding cloud material
So that's why they appear dark
Could it be soot like material or is it material from the comet or is it material that's being drawn up from?
Inside the planet do we know yet? I think what a lot of people expected was that these would be bright
Water clouds or something like that. There must be some contaminants in there
Like you said soot like particles or other complex molecules that are in there making it dark now anybody looking at that photo is
going to say oh a lot of commotion about some black dots
But those black dots are enormous if you keep in mind that red spot that you showed us
That's right. This is bigger than the earth those dots are about how big then?
The the really dark portion of those dots is probably as large as the whole United States
And then if you look more closely you'll see that more of the material is spreading out
Over a size that's a large fraction of the earth
So if this had if this impact even any one of these that happened in the United States
It would have been enough to destroy the whole United States is what you're saying. It would have been a bad day
That's good
Yeah, these an object this large striking the earth would be a global catastrophe
We're running out of time
But one quick thing the tabloids have shown pictures of the comet colliding with Jupiter and saying we're going to have an ice age here on earth
Is there anything to worry about here on earth? There's not Jupiter is far away
The only effect on the earth is the excitement that it's causing for all of us
Yeah, in fact, it's about a half a billion miles away
Jupiter is from the earth so that everybody can just relax and in these pictures are incredible
I must say though Joan it's a little weird that the
Scientists when they first saw the pictures were toasting it with champagne
It's a catastrophic event that if it happened here on earth as Keith explained would have been a bad day
But for astronomers at least sitting in the comfort of their chairs
It's a good day. It's exciting that I'm so glad you asked that last question about
Could that happen here because I was going to ask it if you didn't yeah, it never fails doesn't it never fails?
All right. Well, we'll continue coverage of this whole thing all throughout the week. Michael. Thank you
You're welcome coming up next actor and former soccer player and
Disease on today's two-year health report the American Dental Association
Announces some new guidelines on what to look for in your dentist's office
To ensure that you and your family are protected and joining us now to explain as the head of the public health sciences at
Baylor College of Dentistry, dr. Linda Neeson nice to have you here. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here
John first of all, why does the American Dental Association feel that it's necessary right now to inform people what they should be aware of?
Well, we've actually done two recent surveys that have shown between 40 to 50 percent of consumers are concerned about
infection control and safety in the dental office and unfortunately that means they may not be aware of
And unfortunately that means they may not go to the dentist. That's right
And we already know people are afraid of the dentist a lot of people who are afraid of the sounds the sights the smell the
So-called marathon man syndrome. We don't want this to be one more reason for people to be afraid
So this is let's educate everyone so that they ask the right questions and then they don't have to be afraid and then they'll go
To the dentist like they should that's what we hope that this will do. All right
What should the dentist be wearing? What are your guidelines? What should we be seeing in the dentist's office?
Essentially think of it. There are things that you see when you walk in the office and then there are things that go on behind the
Scene. All right, the things that you will see when you walk in the office
Is the is the office clean orderly you will see us wearing gloves
During patient treatment we will wear masks and we will wear eyewear
Now, why are they wearing these things just so that people are afraid of them?
They realize so that they understand why then the whole idea is behind universal precautions is to prevent the transmission of
Infectious diseases. So the gloves will protect the patient from any
bacteria on the hands the masks and the eyewear protect again both the dentist and the patient from the transmission of any
Bacteria eyewear also that is there is anything flying up into the dentist's face, right?
So that it's that we're talking about his protection as well as well as patient protection
But also for yours, I mean, we don't want something hitting my eye if i'm drilling on you
Yeah, so so it works that way in some cases you may see us wearing a shield instead of the mask in the eyewear
This this substitutes so it's just whichever is more comfortable and easier to work with don't get worried if you walk in and you see
This is another that's right. Okay. Now, what about the instruments? Okay, and what?
Kind of care should they have all of the instruments that go into a patient's mouth during treatment should either be sterilized or be
Disposable when they are sterilized what you will see they will they will either be in bags like this and this is a
Sterilization bag before it's been sterilized. This is these are the instruments afterwards and what you see here
See this little blue mark. This is a blue mark before sterilization after the sterilization process. It turns dark
Oh that, you know, I think they do sterilization. All right process. All right, and then
This would this would be the sterile. This is one type of sterilizer. This is called an autoclave
This is an autoclave. So this is a sterilization process that sterilizes using steam under pressure
There are several types this you probably won't see if you are concerned as a patient
Talk to your dentist ask if he has one. Absolutely. We'll be happy to give you the tour
I mean for people who are afraid but wait a minute
I mean, you know a lot of people just don't like to confront a 30 figures, especially one that has a drill. Sorry, but
I mean, it's seriously no, no, but these are important questions to ask
Joan you're absolutely right
Our research has shown the consumers are in fact for often reluctant to ask the questions and one of the things that we've developed
Is the brochure that will outline the things to look for in a dental office and the questions to ask?
So that it's okay. You know, I have I have this information about infection control
But it really you need to have it as well
You need to know the things to look for you the dentist are saying right now
It's okay to ask us please do because we want you to feel comfortable. So you'll come and get the proper dental care
Absolutely bottom line. That's the bottom line. I want you to be comfortable in the dental office. All right, doctor. Thank you very much
Thank you. Thank you to be here. Great
When we come back Norman Mailer tell to what it takes to be a good celebrity