Today on Far Future Horizons we will explore Jupiter and its system of moons.
Beneath Jupiter’s clouds lie
our solar system’s deepest secrets: from its violent youth, through the birth
of life to the death of the sun. Scientists are discovering that the solar
system, the Earth and every living thing exists because of Jupiter.
Jupiter may indeed be the destroyer
and Saviour of Worlds.
To
quote a recent article:
It
has long been known that the advanced life on Earth may owe its existence to
Jupiter, whose hulking presence and massive gravity well have probably saved
our planet from many an asteroid collision. Not only has Jupiter attracted and
destroyed asteroids that may otherwise have collided with Earth, but it has
also flung asteroids entirely out of our solar system. Jupiter is the great
guardian, protecting our little planet from the sort of repeated collisions
that would have set back the development of life over and over again.
Now
two scientists are postulating that Jupiter (and Saturn, in a secondary role)
may be responsible for the very existence of Earth itself—because it destroyed
the first generation of planets in the inner system, leaving a debris ring that
later formed a second generation farther from the sun.
This episode of How the Universe Works can be purchased
directed from Amazon’s Instant Video.
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