Jupiter has been observed throughout human history and is so bright that you can even spot it under the artificial light dome of one of our cities. Even so it is less than 40 years ago that we were first able to view Jupiter in detail as the Voyagers streaked by it. Jupiter contains more than twice the mass of all of the other planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, and comets in our solar system combined. Eons ago, our solar systems very own giant planet, Jupiter, appears to have cleared out the inner solar system leaving enough rocky debris to form Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. Without Jupiter's action our solar system is likely to have turned out like the more than half of the planetary systems which we have found which consist of non-inhabitable super Earth sized planets orbiting closely about their host stars. In terms of the defense of planet Earth from impacting objects, Jupiter is a mixed blessing. It apparently deflects some of the long period comets out of Earth impacting orbits while sending other asteroids and comets our way. In 1770 a small comet came in from the outer solar system and passed near Jupiter. This encounter sent it straight towards Earth. Fortunately this celestial visitor missed humanity by about a million miles. After two orbits of the Sun this small comet once again passed near Jupiter and was ejected from the solar system. Look up where to find Jupiter on the internet and observe it. Jupiter is an awesome sight in binoculars or a small telescope. As you view this gas giant think about the fact that it is likely the reason you have a place to stand and air to breathe.
