Three minutes to talk about popular science
Have you ever wondered if Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, will disappear?If Jupiter were to disappear, what would happen to Earth?How long will the Earth survive Jupiter's disappearance?So let's take a look at it today, what kind of changes and effects will it have if Jupiter disappears.
Why is Jupiter always known as the patron saint of the earth?Is it just because it's the largest planet in the solar system?However, in terms of distance, Jupiter and the Earth are separated by 700 million kilometers, and according to normal thinking, even if Jupiter disappears, it should not have any substantial impact on the Earth. But Jupiter is associated with the Earth and affectionately referred to as the patron saint of the Earth. In fact, it all stemmed from the collision of comet and Jupiter many years ago.
In 1994, human beings on Earth witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle in astronomical history - the collision of comets. The enormous power of this celestial impact shocked people enormously. The comet that collided with Jupiter was discovered by American astronomers in 1993, and it is very large and moving very fast, even moving at a speed of 176 times the speed of sound. Scientists at the time discovered that when the comet was only about 110,000 kilometers away from Jupiter, it was torn to pieces by Jupiter's unusually strong gravity. If the fragments were lined up, the total length would be more than 5 million kilometers.
In July 1994, fragments of the comet began to penetrate Jupiter's atmosphere, and scientists used the world's largest astronomical telescope to record the comet's largest fragment impacting Jupiter after it was torn apart. The largest piece of debris, 32 kilometers in diameter, collided with Jupiter with the same force as trillions of tons of explosives. The fragments of this comet eventually fell on Jupiter, forming an impact with Jupiter, causing heavy damage to Jupiter. The impact of these debris on Jupiter unleashed a huge force, and the most serious debris impact was equivalent to 2The power of 500 million atomic bombs at the same time. And under the successive impacts, Jupiter was knocked out of a crater tens of thousands of kilometers deep. And the size of this pit alone is several times that of the earth.
You can assume that if the comet that collided with Jupiter this time was not blocked by Jupiter and tore into pieces and fell to Jupiter, but flew straight towards the Earth, then humanity might be hit and helpless. I can't even say if humanity will become extinct because of this!According to relevant scientific research, in the outer part of the solar system, there is a comet belt, which is composed of hundreds of millions of comets. However, due to the movement and gravitational attraction of the stars in the past, some comets often break away from the comet belt and break into the solar system. Some comets simply pass through the solar system, while others collide with other planets in the solar system. With the presence of Jupiter, Jupiter can use its powerful attraction to tear the comets that strayed into the solar system into pieces and capture them into its own planet, so as to protect the other planets in the solar system, but if Jupiter disappears, then the probability of the Earth being hit by the comet will be greatly increased. That's why people affectionately call Jupiter the "patron saint of the earth".
In fact, life on Earth can reproduce and evolve smoothly and survive for hundreds of millions of years, in addition to the stable Earth-Moon system and Earth-Sun system, every planet in the solar system is closely related to this. Missing any of these would have an unexpected impact on the planet.
So now you understand the importance of Jupiter, right?Do you still think that the disappearance of Jupiter has no effect on Earth?