NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has recorded the most detailed images yet of the plume of atmospheric debris caused by an object that plunged into Jupiter in a rare collision with the planet.

Scientists used the telescope on Thursday to capture what they call the "sharpest visible-light picture" so far of the expanding gash.

Anthony Wesley, 44, a computer programmer from Murrumbateman, a village north of Canberra, was the first to make the discovery last week using his backyard 14.5-inch reflecting telescope.

Amy Simon-Miller of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland., says the magnitude of the impact is believed to be rare. Simon-Miller estimates the diameter of the object that hit the planet was the size of several football fields.

The debris possibly came from a comet or asteroid that hit Jupiter.

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NASA also says the new images prove repairs done on the Hubble in May were successful.