Is it true that Jupiter could be considered our friendliest planet because – without Jupiter – comets would be more likely to hit us?
The answer is yes … and no. 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 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 timescales of millions or tens of millions of years. 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. There was Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994. And, in 2009, astronomers observed a dark gash in one side of the giant planet, likely caused by a comet.
But Jupiter creates both good and bad conditions for earthly life. Consider that its powerful gravity prevented space rocks orbiting near it from coalescing into a planet, and that’s why our solar system today has an asteroid belt, consisting of hundreds of thousands of small flying chunks of debris.
Today, Jupiter’s gravity continues to affect the asteroids – only now it nudges some asteroids toward the sun, where they have the possibility of colliding with Earth.
Another interesting story comes from several centuries ago. The late Brian G. Marsden, former director of the the International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, related it to Dennis Overbye of the New York Times in 2009, shortly after the dark gash appeared on Jupiter. It’s rare for a comet to come within 1 astronomical unit of Earth (that is, one Earth-sun distance, 92 million miles, or about 150 million kilometers). But, in the year 1770, a Comet Lexell streaked past Earth at a distance of only a million miles. Dr. Marsden told Overbye that :
… the comet had come streaking in from the outer solar system three years earlier and passed close to Jupiter, which diverted it into a new orbit and straight toward Earth.
The comet made two passes around the sun and in 1779 again passed very close to Jupiter, which then threw it back out of the solar system.
It was as if Jupiter aimed at us and missed.
So is Jupiter Earth’s protector? The answer is … sometimes!
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
NEWSWEEK - While Jupiter may be our planetary guardian angel, protecting us from harm, gas giants in other solar systems might actually wreak havoc on other exoplanets nearby. In our solar system, Jupiter's huge gravitational field deflects comets and asteroids away from our delicate, rocky home planet.
While Jupiter often protects Earth and the other inner planets by deflecting comets and asteroids, sometimes it sends objects on a collision course straight toward the inner planets.
“Jupiter's gravitational influence helps to clear out debris and prevent large bodies from impacting Earth.” It absorbs fragments of these objects into its atmosphere or slings them out of the solar system entirely.
Though Jupiter's immense gravitational field wreaked havoc during the Solar System's early days, today it shepherds the orbits of asteroids and helps protect the inner planets from impacts.
In fact, the massive planet flings some comets out of the solar system altogether. That's why astronomers suggested in the early 1990s that Jupiter serves as a sort of planetary bodyguard for Earth.
From July 16 to 22, 1994, enormous pieces of the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9), discovered just a year prior, crashed into Jupiter over several days, creating huge, dark scars in the planet's atmosphere and lofting superheated plumes into its stratosphere.
Jupiter's environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.
To take a spacecraft from Earth to Jupiter would take about six years, Phillips added, including another six years to return. So, no, humans can't travel to Jupiter right now. However, NASA is launching the Europa Clipper, a mission that is going to the Jupiter system in 2024.
There would be minor changes in the planets' orbits about the Sun, but very little else. However, Jupiter does a great job of shepherding and absorbing small objects in the Solar System. With Jupiter gone, the main effect on Earth would be an increase in the rate of impacts from asteroids and other space flotsam.
Most of these objects, called planetoids or asteroids — meaning "star-like" — orbit between Mars and Jupiter in a grouping known as the main asteroid belt. The main asteroid belt lies more than two-and-a-half times as far as Earth does from the sun and contains millions of asteroids.
Early in the history of the solar system, the gravity of newly formed Jupiter brought an end to the formation of planetary bodies in this region and caused the small bodies to collide with one another, fragmenting them into the asteroids we observe today.
It has long been believed that the planet Jupiter has played a beneficial role in the development of life on the Earth, acting as a shield from objects which would otherwise go on to significantly raise the impact flux experienced by our planet.
No, Saturn has never been a sun or a star, Saturn has always been a planet. Saturn formed alongside Earth and the rest of the solar system and like Earth, it too orbits the sun. Earth and Saturn share the same sun, as do all the planets in this solar system.
The atmosphere of Jupiter is 90 percent hydrogen. The remaining 10 percent is almost completely made up of helium, though there are small traces of other gases inside. These gases pile on top of one another, forming layers that extend downward.
Final answer: In classical mythology, Jupiter usually seeks to protect destined heroes or figures, aiding them because of destiny or appeals made by other deities. His assistance often comes in the form of divine intervention, visions, or guidance.
Jupiter's environment is probably not conducive to life as we know it. The temperatures, pressures, and materials that characterize this planet are most likely too extreme and volatile for organisms to adapt to.
We think of the gas giants as bullies that pushed Earth around and made a lot of decisions for us. Some even call Jupiter Earth's “protector.” This is because, over the past 4 billion years, its massive gravity has scattered comets and asteroids away that might otherwise have hit our planet.
It would only do so if the asteroid came close enough to Jupiter to be affected. If, when the asteroid came towards the Earth, Jupiter had been on the other side of the Sun, then it would have been useless.
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