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JUPITER’S SHIFTING ORBIT WILL MAKE EARTH PARADISE (OR HELL)
OH, JUPITER. IF ONLY the gas giant shifted its orbit slightly, becoming more eccentric (meaning oval-shaped), it could transform the shape of Earth’s orbit, too, causing parts of the blue planet to move closer to the sun. That, in turn, would mean less unlivable ice-covered regions and the potential for more habitable zones.
That was the focus of a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal. Modeling data from our solar system as we understand it today, University of California, Riverside (UCR) scientists created a theoretical system that slightly altered Jupiter’s orbit.
“Many are convinced that Earth is the epitome of a habitable planet and that any change in Jupiter’s orbit, being the massive planet it is, could only be bad for Earth,” Pam Vervoort, a UCR Earth and planetary scientist and…
