A recent post, made on the 18th on an account associated with the James Webb Space Telescope on the X platform (formerly Twitter), featured a viral video that sheds light on the role of Jupiter as a possible defensive shield for Earth. However, the post highlights that reality can be more complex than one imagines.
The idea that Jupiter’s powerful gravity acts as a guardian, deflecting asteroids and comets from Earth, has been an ancient belief that has been studied. However, this theory, which offers a certain level of comfort, needs more concrete evidence.
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Understand how the relationship between Earth and Jupiter works
A study published in 2010 by Oxford University Presswith computer simulations carried out by astrophysicist Jonti Horner, from the University of New South Wales, Australia, and Professor Barrie Jones, from the Open University of the United Kingdom, provides other answers. They concluded that Jupiter may actually increase the risk of impacts on Earth.
The simulations carried out by the researchers reveal that, although Jupiter is effective in deflecting comets originating from distant regions of our Solar System, it can have the opposite effect on nearby comets and asteroids. This could direct them toward a possible collision with Earth and increase the overall rate of impacts.
It is believed that, in the early days of planet Earth, an object with a mass equivalent to one to three times that of Mars collided with our planet. This ended up giving rise to the Moon.
According to the New York Times As of 2009, the absence of this impact could have transformed Earth into a more Venus-like environment, with surface temperatures unable to support liquid water and life.
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Subsequently, Earth would have faced comet showers and intense asteroid bombardments, which released volatile compounds fundamental to the formation of our atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. However, these same catastrophic events that contributed to the formation of life could have resulted in its extinction.
According to a study by the B612 Foundation, between 2000 and 2013, the Earth was hit by 26 objects that exploded with a force that varied between one and 600 kilotons, which is equivalent to 40 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. .
If these events collision were more frequent, Earth’s biosphere would be completely different from the one we know today.
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