How Jupiter Protected Mankind on Earth

Some events in the cosmos may have helped or even hindered life on our planet. How did Jupiter protect the very existence of life here on Earth?

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We think of outer space as distant and unreachable. An object hundreds of millions miles away might not affect us so much. But scientists know that in fact, there are events out in the cosmos that may have helped or hindered life on our planet. What if I told you, that a distant planet in our solar system is said to have protected mankind on Earth.

As you probably guessed from the title of this video, we’re talking about Jupiter. A giant planet 365 million miles away from Earth. But because of this distance, this planet is this small when viewed from Earth. How is this tiny dot even said to protect the very existence of life here?

#Jupiter has played a very important role in the history of mankind. The first finding of Jupiter dates back to at least the Babylonian astronomers between the seventh and eighth BC. In 1610, Galileo discovered Jupiter’s four large moons — Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. With this discovery Galileo disproved the geocentric model of the universe, in which it was believed that the Earth was at the centre, and everything else revolves around it. Jupiter has helped revolutionise the way we see the universe, and ourselves.

As the most massive body in our solar system after the sun, the pull of Jupiter's gravity has shaped the fate of our solar system. Some astronomers believe that one reason Earth is habitable is because the gravity of Jupiter does help us from external objects. But how?

In order to understand this, we need to go back a little bit. Most of us are familiar with the path-breaking discovery by Albert Einstein. “Gravity is the curvature of space-time caused by massive objects”.

In simple words we can say that heavy objects like the sun causes the space-time to bend. In much the same way as a trampoline would, when a heavy ball is dropped in it. This bending causes the planets around the sun to be caught in its gravitational field and revolve around it.

It’s the same reason why Jupiter is crucial for us. Its gravitational field is thought to sling most of these fast-moving ice balls, before they can get close to our planet.
Not only that, a new model known as the Grand Tack model, suggests that Jupiter might’ve flung material inward. Crashing hydrogen-rich asteroids and planetary embryos, into crowded young terrestrial planets. In doing so it might have gifted Earth with one of most important natural resources--water.

And a new research suggests that the delivery of this water, a key ingredient for life, may not have been luck. Instead, all planetary systems fortunate enough to host a gas giant in their outskirts should automatically have water-rich material falling on their rocky inner planets. Gaseous planets like Jupiter toss hydrogen-rich material that winds up locked into Earth's crust and mantle, emerging later to bond with oxygen and become water.

Today, Jupiter not only does this but also prevents us from comets and meteors. Long-period comets, in particular, enter the solar system from its outer reaches. But with the help of Jupiter, it is thought to sling most of these fast-moving ice balls before they can even get close to Earth.

In simple words, we can say that the gravitational field of Jupiter, slings these long period #comets and throws them out of the solar system. Without Jupiter nearby, this external object would collide with our planet. We know about an asteroid that caused the extinction of dinosaurs, 65 millions years ago. Scientists believe this asteroid might have snuck past Jupiter and hit the earth. 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. It consists of hundreds of thousands of small flying chunks of debris. Jupiter’s gravity continues to affect these comets and sometimes causes them to fly towards the sun where they initially had a possibility of colliding with the Earth. In 1770, a comet named Lexell, streaked pass Earth at a distance of only a million miles. It definitely sends #asteroids and comets our way.

So.. The real question that we wanna ask.. Is Jupiter really a protector of mankind? Well the answer is yes…and no. Apparently this gigantic planet is just following the physics of curved space-time.