• NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de
    ·
    2 months ago

    Explain to me, how is Jupiter deflecting a significant number of asteroids if it can only be in one place at any one time and its orbit is nearly 12 years long? Wouldn't asteroids have a huge window to get past it while it's on the other side of the sun?

    • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today
      ·
      2 months ago

      Same thing for Earth, it can only be at one place at anytime, creating a huge window for any asteroid to missed earth. And when it missed, it must loop around and orbit the sun, multiple times, increasing the chance of it got caught in Jupiter's gravitational well, which is a pretty massive distance.

      Orbital mechanic is crazy and make no sense for a peasant like me. You would think hitting the sun is the easiest thing but It's actually really hard to launch something into the sun. And would require an enormous energy to do so.

      Ever wonder why don't we just launch our nuclear waste into the sun? I thought so too and do some Google search about it. It was an interesting read.