Have you ever wondered how potential asteroids have not hit our planet? We earthlings might have the giant planet that is 10 times larger than the Earth to thank for our very existence. It turns out that Jupiter may be more than just an enormous ball of gas spinning a few hundred million miles farther out in the solar system.
According to a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in May 2015, two scientists are suggesting that the inner solar system once played host to a bunch of “super-Earths” — planets that were larger than our own but smaller than Neptune. Jupiter, however, put an end to those early occupiers of the inner orbits, bulldozing in and sweeping them into the sun.
The two scientists suggested that the inner solar system once played host to a bunch of “super-Earths” — planets that were larger than our own but smaller than Neptune.
The planet is so vast that it’s gravity helps to pull and interrupt most potential asteroids from hitting Earth. There is more gravity on Jupiter than on Earth. Someone who weighs 100 pounds on Earth would weigh about 240 pounds on Jupiter.
Konstantin Batygin of Caltech, one of the authors of the paper said:
“Our work suggests that Jupiter’s inward-outward migration could have destroyed the first generation of planets and set the stage for the formation of the mass-depleted terrestrial planets that our solar system has today.”
Jupiter, however, put an end to those early occupiers of the inner orbits, bulldozing in and sweeping them into the sun, according to a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Jupiter’s epic, the planet-shattering journey toward the sun and back out again laid the foundations for the creation of Earth and the other smaller planets nearby — Mercury, Venus, and Mars.
Below is a Twitter video of how Jupiter’s gravity pull and interrupt potential asteroids from hitting Earth.
Can we take a moment to thank Jupiter.
The planet is so vast that it’s gravity helps to pull and interrupt most potential asteroids from hitting Earth. pic.twitter.com/0MitKKhX9C— Universal Curiosity (@UniverCurious) September 11, 2020
