this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2024
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[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 91 points 1 year 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 41 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year 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 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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 20 points 1 year 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 1 year 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 5 points 1 year 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 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] chillinit@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Klear@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Jupiter is "the big one".

[–] Artyom@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year 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 60 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Your mom’s extra mass attracts more asteroids.

[–] OpenStars@startrek.website 9 points 1 year ago

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

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

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

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

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

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

Now we still have to go to work tomorrow!

FUCK YOU Moon 🖕

[–] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago

🌎❤️🌕

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

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

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

So much for my post-election prayers...