The observable universe
has a diameter of about 92 billion light years.
Within it
are planets, nebulas, asteroids,
the list goes on.
But what would happen
if we got rid of a single planet?
Specifically, our largest planet Jupiter?
If Jupiter was no longer in our solar system,
having one less planet to aspire to travel to would
be the last thing we'd have to worry about.
The gas giant ranges from 600
to 1,000 million km (373 million mi) away from Earth.
But despite it being so far away from us,
we'd experience direct implications right here on Earth.
Why is this?
To say that we'd notice Jupiter's absence
here on Earth is a bit of an understatement.
This is due to Earth not being around,
at least in the current state, as we know it today.
Sure, it would still be some sort of planet,
but it's very unlikely there would be
any complex life-forms
no fish, animals, and certainly no humans.
Earth has been hit by tons of asteroids
and other space rocks.
According to some experts,
they may have brought water
and other essential substances down to Earth.
Although some asteroids can be good,
there's plenty of bad ones.
Some would be big enough to wipe out entire civilizations,
just like what happened to the dinosaurs,
65 million years ago.
This is where Jupiter's role comes in.
Although it's slipped up a couple of times
throughout the history of our Solar System,
Jupiter has been protecting us.
As millions of asteroids have been heading towards Earth,
Jupiter's gravitational pull
has grabbed the asteroids.
This puts them in Jupiter's orbit and
unable to reach Earth.
Without our giant protector,
Earth would be hit by a lot more asteroids.
And it's unlikely another planet would step in to fill Jupiter's place,
considering the gas giant is the only planet
big enough to attract all these asteroids.
This means Earth would get hit by
thousands more asteroids than it ever has before.
Some would be small and could maybe help Earth,
bringing us new elements.
But it's possible Earth would get hit by a
couple of big ones,
enough to destroy anything that would be evolving on the planet,
and maybe enough to destroy Earth itself.
So we know we probably wouldn't be here if Jupiter had never existed,
but what if it suddenly disappeared today?
Our Solar System would have developed
in the exact same way,
but Jupiter suddenly blinked out of existence.
For more on how our Solar System
as a whole would shift and get all out of sorts,
you can check out our episode
What If Earth Was the Only Planet in our Solar System.
But if only Jupiter disappeared,
it might be a good thing.
Despite being our protector,
occasionally, Jupiter messes up
and might miss a couple of things.
Jupiter threw a comet towards us 350 years ago.
Luckily it missed us,
but it wouldn't have been anywhere near Earth in the first place
if it wasn't for Jupiter.
.
Despite Jupiter occasionally throwing some space rocks our way,
it has largely helped us throughout history.
So I'm going to say, it's probably best to let Jupiter stay in our galaxy.
Agreed?
How about instead of getting rid of Jupiter,
why don't we fall into it
and see what mysteries it holds?
Well, that sounds like a story for another WHAT IF.