Why is Jupiter an important planet for us?

Answer 1

Jupiter's gravitational field is second only in strength to that of the Sun. It's role in protecting the Earth form comet and asteroid impacts is only now being fully appreciated. Comet '' Shoemaker Levy 9 '' recently impacted Jupiter having broken into 9 separate fragments, any one of which, had it hit the Earth would have been totally catastrophic for the continuation of life on Earth. This was thought to be a once in a lifetime event until our ideas were altered this Summer when another huge impact was spotted by amateurs astronomers. Hubble's recently refurbished camera was quickly commisioned and pointed at this impact site. We are very fortunate to have this protection and could be another reason why life has been able to progress relatively uniformly on Earth although there have been several mass extinction events throughout geologiical time. The last being the Chixulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula which is thought to have killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.