To all SSC Station occupants
Thank you for the donations over the past year (2024), it is much appreciated. I am still trying to figure out how to migrate the forums to another community software (probably phpbb) but in the meantime I have updated the forum software to the latest version. SSC has been around a while so their is some very long time members here still using the site, thanks for making SSC home and sorry I haven't been as vocal as I should be in the forums I will try to improve my posting frequency.
Thank you again to all of the members that do take the time to donate a little, it helps keep this station functioning on the outer reaches of space.
-D1-
Jupiter is a great shield for the Earth, because the fifth planet takes on almost all the blows from space
It turned out that Jupiter annually protects the Earth from many space objects, but 1994 is of particular importance for scientists because it was during this period that humanity could instantly cease to exist, repeating the history of dinosaurs, writes "News of the Eastern Ribbon".
“On July 17, 1994, an asteroid with a diameter of 1000 kilometers struck Jupiter. The impact was so powerful that it released energy equivalent to 40 trillion tons of TNT, 2 billion times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. After the impact on the surface of Jupiter, there was a temporary huge dark spot larger than Earth, ”comments NASA.
After hitting Jupiter, the asteroid shattered into many parts, which emphasizes the power of the phenomenon. Experts note that such a blow was not disastrous for a large planet, but for all living beings on Earth, it could easily become the last. This is why Jupiter remains one of the most important and studied objects in space.
On July 17, 1994, an asteroid with a diameter of 1000 kilometers struck Jupiter.
That was Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, and the estimated size of its nucleus before it fragmented (two years previously) was about 5km in diameter! For reference, the asteroid which created the Chicxulub crater was about 10km in diameter.