JUPITER AND COMETS

Jupiter can change orbits, making a comet either more or less likely to hit Earth

As comets fall inwards towards the Sun on highly elongated orbits, they may feel enough of a pull from Jupiter’s gravity to alter their course significantly. This has happened several times to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, best known as the destination of the Rosetta mission in 2014. Over the course of multiple orbits between 1840 and 1959, its closest approach to the Sun gradually reduced from 4.0 to 1.3 AU – the latter close enough to Earth’s own orbit to be worrying if the inward trend resumes in future. But Jupiter can also have a protective effect by swallowing up comets that get too close to it, as was seen in dramatic fashion in 1994 when the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, already broken apart by Jupiter’s gravity, crashed one after another…

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All About Space Annual (Digital) - 1 Issue, All About Space Annual (2024)

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