![JUPITER PROTECTING US?](https://cdn.magzter.com/1493279487/1681900955/articles/7RxJeJ4_D1681968104305/JUPITER-PROTECTING-US.jpg)
Jupiter is by far the largest planet in the Solar System, containing more than twice as much mass as the rest of the planets put together. As such, its influence on the dynamics of the Solar System is second only to the Sun itself, and it’s often said that Jupiter is the planetary ‘protector’ of Earth. But is that true, and if so, how does it work? To start with, Jupiter isn’t really that close to us. The distance from Earth to the Sun is one astronomical unit (AU), while that between the Sun and Jupiter is much bigger at around 5.2 AU. This means that Jupiter never gets closer to us than 4.2 AU, and it’s often much further away than that. And as big as Jupiter is, it still only has a thousandth of the Sun’s mass, so its direct gravitational effect on us is negligible in comparison.
The reality is that Jupiter’s influence on Earth isn’t direct, but comes about via its effect on much smaller objects in the Solar System, all the way from asteroids down to grains of dust. Continuously through its 4.6 billion years of existence, Jupiter has helped to shape the Solar System through its gravitational effects. As far as Earth is concerned, we can thank Jupiter for protecting our planet from devastating collisions in the period immediately after its birth and then giving it enough water to fill the oceans. Then it tidied up the surrounding environment by sweeping up a large proportion of the rocky debris left over from planet formation, and even today it continues to shepherd incoming comets away from the inner Solar System.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue 142 من All About Space UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة Issue 142 من All About Space UK.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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LONG AGO, A LAKE ON MARS MAY HAVE BEEN SPRAWLING WITH MICROBES
Curiosity discovered manganese oxide in bedrock in a Martian region that may have been a shoreline billions of years ago
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MOON TOUR HELL
Finding this fascinating crater isnt as hard as its name suggests...
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THIS MONTH'S PLANETS
Most of the planets are tricky targets this month, but our guide will help you locate them
![UNIVERSE BEFORE TIME](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1729654/cHFLjjJOS1719991851680/UNIVERSE-BEFORE-TIME.jpg)
UNIVERSE BEFORE TIME
Could the existence of a mirror-image cosmos before the Big Bang solve some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy?
![CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/15256/1729654/Se3Bbyf0G1719991384386/CLIMATE-CHANGE-IN-THE-SOLAR-SYSTEM.jpg)
CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
Alongside Earth, our planetary neighbourhood is changing, but it’s not for the better…
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Stars give tiny planets a gravitational 'squeeze' to strip away their atmospheres
A scientist has learned more about the violent processes that rip atmospheres away from planets, finding that squashing and squeezing by a parent star can contribute to this process.
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The Milky Way's halo is filled with ‘magnetic doughnuts' as wide as 100,000 light years
The outer halo of the Milky Way is filled with magnetic fields that take the shape of vast doughnuts with diameters ranging from 12,000 to 100,000 light years, with the heart of our galaxy at their centre.
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The Pentagon wants the commercial space reserve to support military satellites in orbit
The US Department of Defense is developing a plan to use the ever-growing American commercial space industry for national security purposes.
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DOES A COSMIC 'GLITCH' IN GRAVITY CHALLENGE ALBERT EINSTEIN'S GREATEST THEORY?
Gravity changes once you reach a cosmic scale
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DEEP SKY CHALLENGE : STELLAR TREASURES OF THE ARCHER AND SCORPION
Summer skies are stuffed full of amazing objects for your telescope - if you're prepared to stay up late