this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 97 points 10 months ago (5 children)

Should've been Jupiter instead of the moon. Since Jupiter protects the inner solar system from most asteroids and comets.

[–] lath@lemmy.world 44 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Nah. Jupiter would be like "Yummy! Moar!!!"

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago

agree, would make more sense a comet asking Neptune for directions, and then colliding with Jupiter with Pac-Man face

[–] frezik@midwest.social 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's way more complicated than that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zu41rrc_Ng

The way the complicated orbital mechanics work, there is a "gate" which is the only place where asteroids/comets/whatever can cross Jupiter's orbit. This doesn't usually result in them hitting Jupiter, but it does limit their options for hitting Earth.

Been a while since I watched the video, so I don't remember all the details, but that should be the basic gist.

[–] chillinit@lemmynsfw.com 21 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Here's a <1pg read about Jupiter and comets.

Jupiter’s gravity is thought to sling most of these fast-moving ice balls out of the solar system before they can get close to Earth... Without Jupiter nearby, long-period comets would collide with our planet much more frequently.

Consider that 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, consisting of hundreds of thousands of small flying chunks of debris. Today, Jupiter’s gravity continues to affect the asteroids – only now it nudges some asteroids toward the sun, where they have the possibility of colliding with Earth.

Editorial: It's a double-edged sword that favors us far more often than it doesn't. The human problem is that it only takes one collision to end us.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I mean it's a mathematical inevitability that earth will get hit eventually. Having Jupiter there just gave us better odds. Luck doesn't last forever though.

[–] chillinit@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think the odds are better that we kill ourselves before a comet does it for us ;)

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh I've felt that way for decades. Humanity is never escaping this rock.

[–] chillinit@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 10 months ago

All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Just as his namesake god, sometimes benevolent, sometimes an asshole. Though slightly less of an asshole, it seems

[–] chillinit@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I see what you mean. But, take out the word "slightly" and it's also how most of us perceive ourselves and how we should be treated by an authority. It seems exemplified in our anthropomorphized perceptions of most gods.

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

Yeah, polytheistic gods are basically people, with all consequences thereof. Powerful, but not omnipotent, nor omniscient.

We've been telling stories of those people to make sense of the universe, but the story is ultimately about us.

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Jupiter is "the big one".

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

In the bando of the Solar System, Jupiter is the pitbull

[–] Artyom@lemm.ee 25 points 10 months ago (3 children)

The moon doesn't actually protect the Earth from asteroids. It's a net-zero because the extra mass attracts more asteroids.

[–] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 62 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Your mom’s extra mass attracts more asteroids.

[–] OpenStars@startrek.website 11 points 10 months ago

~~How did you kn...~~ uh I mean, nuh-uh!

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Ok, I'm old. Asteroid is slang for what?

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

I don't think it's common slang but in this particular case asteroid is the penis

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Now we still have to go to work tomorrow!

FUCK YOU Moon 🖕

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 7 points 10 months ago

... and that's how life on mars got extinct

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 7 points 10 months ago

🌎❤️🌕

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

So much for my post-election prayers...