Jupiter Saves Our Planet From Catastrophic Destruction!

At a certain point in the life of an astronomy fan, there comes a time to answer the question:

Is it true that Jupiter could be considered our friendliest planet because – without Jupiter – comets would be more likely to hit us?

Some astronomers believe that one reason Earth is habitable is that the gravity of Jupiter does help protect us from some comets.

Long-period comets, in particular, enter the solar system from its outer reaches. Jupiter’s gravity is thought to sling most of these fast-moving – potential destroyers - ice balls out of the solar system before they can get close to Earth.

So long-period comets are thought to strike Earth only on very long time scales of millions or tens of millions of years.

One may ask: what would happen if there was no Jupiter in the Solar System?

Without Jupiter nearby, long-period comets would collide with our planet much more frequently.

In addition, in recent decades, astronomers have been able to see signs of comets that have crashed into Jupiter. One of the most famous comets that crashed into Jupiter was Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hitting Jupiter in 1994, or the one hitting Jupiter on July 19, 2009, about which NASA said:

"We believe it was a comet or asteroid measuring perhaps a few hundred meters wide. If something of similar size hit Earth—we're talking about 2000 megatons of energy- there would be serious regional devastation or a tsunami if it hit the ocean."

But we will talk later in this video about the story of these impacts and how Jupiter literally saved us.

In order to understand how it can save Earth, it's better to describe a little this colourful and huge planet.

First, everyone knows that Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.

It’s 318 times as massive as Earth and 2.5 times bigger than all the other planets combined.

It's a gas giant, and for a long time scientists haven’t exactly known what lies beyond the swirling clouds in the atmosphere but now we know.

It began with a furrowed brow, a moment of puzzlement, quickly dismissed.

The date was July 19, 2009. Amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley was photographing Jupiter from his backyard observatory in Murrumbateman, Australia, when something odd caught his eye.

"My attention was fixed on the Great Red Spot, which was setting beautifully over Jupiter's horizon," recalls Wesley. "I almost didn't notice the dark blemish near Jupiter's south pole, and when I did, I put it out of my mind."

It's just another dark storm on Jupiter.

"That's what I thought at first, but something about the dark mark puzzled me, it didn't look right, and I couldn't stop stealing glances at it."

Slowly, Jupiter's rotation turned the blemish toward Earth, Wesley got a better look at it, and the truth struck him like a thunderbolt.
It was an impact mark. Something hit the giant planet!

"We believe it was a comet or asteroid measuring perhaps a few hundred meters wide," says Don Yeomans of NASA's Near-Earth Object Office at JPL. "If something of similar size hit Earth—we're talking about 2000 megatons of energy--there would be serious regional devastation or a tsunami if it hit the ocean."

Another famously observed comet impact that occurred on Jupiter was the one of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.

The comet was captured by the gravity of Jupiter, torn apart and then crashed into the giant planet in July 1994.

"If You happen to see any content that is yours, and we didn't give credit in the right manner please let us know in the comments and we will correct it immediately"

"Some of our visual content is under an Attribution-ShareAlike license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/​) in its different versions such as 1.0, 2.0, 3,0, and 4.0 – permitting commercial sharing with attribution given in each picture accordingly in the video."

Credits: Ron Miller
Credits: Mark A. Garlick / MarkGarlick.com
Credits: Nasa/Shutterstock/Storyblocks/Elon Musk/SpaceX/ESA/ESO
Credits: Flickr