A flash of light in Jupiter lasting for just two second has excited astronomers after the rear event was filmed by an amateur stargazer in Japan.

Video of flash of light on the surface of Jupiter caught on amateur camera.

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Masayuki Tachikawa was surprised by the light and was fortunate enough to have recorded the images with a video telescope.

The light is the third such sighting on the surface of Jupiter this year and was also seen by astronomers in Australia and the Philippines.

The International Astronomical Union was also informed of the sighting, by Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory (NAOJ).

Professor Junichi Watanabe, at the NAOJ, told Kyodo News: “This kind of footage is rarely filmed.”

It was in the early hours of Saturday morning that Mr Tachikawa, 52, recorded a glow that lasted for around two seconds near Jupiter’s equator using a video telescope at his home.

“I took it for noise signals at first but I was really surprised because the image of the light remained on the video,” Mr Tachikawa said.

Past flashes of light which were seen on the surface of Jupiter had left craters indicating that the suspected meteorite which caused the flash were large in diameter but the recent video taken in Japan is suspected to be only a kilometer wide as there was no trace of impact.

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