On a clear night, when we look up at the starry sky, we find that the night is inlaid with countless stars. We can't help but be attracted by the twinkling stars in the sky. The dense starlight is so beautiful. Most of the shining stars we see are stars in the Milky Way, as well as some planets, comets, white dwarfs, etc. The reason why they are seen by us is that stars are giant spheres composed of luminous plasma (mainly hydrogen, helium and trace amounts of heavier elements). There are 20 trillion to 40 trillion billion stars in the universe. The sun is the closest star to the earth.
There are so many stars in the universe, and they all revolve in their own specific orbits, making the dim stars become dazzling. But since the birth of the universe 13.8 billion years ago, in addition to the Big Bang, there have been countless collisions between various stars. Although they all have their own orbital routes, facing countless stars, it is inevitable that there will be overlapping trajectories, resulting in inevitable collisions. This is an unexpected event in the universe, but this kind of thing is Very common. Many small stars disappear into the universe after collisions and become dust in the universe.
A comet collided with Jupiter in 1994Jupiter
The only planet-to-planet collision we humans have witnessed was in 1994, when the comet "Shoemaker-Levy 9" collided with Jupiter. This was the first time in human history that the comet collided with Jupiter. A predicted and observed spectacle of a large-scale celestial collision has become a major cosmic event that attracts global attention.
With the invention of telescopes, the scientific and technological level and computing power of cosmic observation have continued to improve. Scientists discovered the comet "Shoemaker-Levy 9" in 1993. The comet was originally a comet orbiting Jupiter, but because it was too close to Saturn during its orbit, it passed the Roche limit of Jupiter's gravity and was blown away by Jupiter's strong tidal force. Shattered into 21 pieces. Astronomers also used the Schmidt Telescope of the Palomar Observatory to take photos of the broken comets, arranged in a straight formation. This discovery also enabled countries around the world to conduct astronomical observations and follow the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
The impact power is equivalent to the explosion of 2 billion atomic bombs
In July 1994, these comet fragments hit Jupiter at a speed of 60 kilometers per second, with great momentum, like huge cannonballs hitting Jupiter, 21 pieces Comet debris continued to impact Jupiter until July 22. Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system. Its volume is 1,316 times that of the earth we live on, and its mass is 318 times that of the earth. There is an atmosphere mainly composed of hydrogen and helium on the surface of Jupiter, and the thickness of the atmosphere is several billion. It is one million meters thick. It is not easy to break through this barrier. There is also a boiling hydrogen sea on the surface of Jupiter, which can buffer the impact of foreign stars.
Although there are layers of obstacles and the comet fragments are not worth mentioning compared to the giant Jupiter, the huge impact caused by the collision still caused a violent reaction from Jupiter. The impact of the first comet fragment was equivalent to the explosion of 200 billion kilograms of TNT, which is equivalent to the energy released by the explosion of 10 million Hiroshima atomic bombs. We all know that the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima caused a devastating disaster to the people of Hiroshima. To this day, the area near the explosion in Hiroshima is still barren, and the impact of nuclear radiation has not been eliminated. And this is still the smallest piece of comet fragments. Among them, numbered G15 is the largest one, with a diameter of more than 3.5 kilometers. The impact surface formed on the surface of Jupiter is equivalent to 80% of the size of the earth, and the impact power is equivalent to 300 million pieces. The energy released by the simultaneous explosion of atomic bombs.
When all the comet fragments hit the surface of Jupiter, they left eight wounds with a diameter of more than 10,000 kilometers on it, and we can clearly see the marks on it through telescopes. Facing the collision between stars in the universe, we humans are really insignificant. It is difficult to imagine what a spectacular scene it would be if 2 billion atomic bombs exploded at the same time.If such an impact occurs on the earth, our earth may not be able to withstand it, and we creatures living on the earth may disappear.
The impact of the comet hitting Jupiter on us
Although the power of this impact is quite scary, fortunately Jupiter is far enough away from our earth. We can safely observe their contest from 770 million kilometers away, and it still has no impact on our earth. What impact does it have. But this also gives us a warning. If a star collides with our earth one day, can we stop it?
Of course, this probability is still very small. After all, in the case of a stable and specific orbit, it is not easy to break away from the existing gravitational force and cause collisions with other stars. The earth is still very safe so far. As long as we humans protect the earth's ecology, we don't have to worry too much about such a disaster. If some smaller asteroids hit, perhaps our technological development in the future can prevent it before it happens and destroy its original trajectory. If it is the collision of the planet , we may only be able to explore new habitable planets and escape through interstellar migration. What do you think?
We know that dinosaurs were the absolute overlords on the earth in the past and ruled the earth for more than 100 million years. However, the impact of an asteroid 65 million years ago led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Of course, this is not just The dinosaurs suffered a catastrophe, and most of the living creatures became extinct. Although this impact was not as powerful as the one on Jupiter, the impact of the asteroid triggered a series of chain reactions on the earth, such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis and other large-scale natural disasters. The extinction of life on earth.
Some studies believe that the Earth may suffer an impact every few million years, and this impact of Jupiter is believed by some to have helped the Earth avoid annihilation. Because the comet entered the solar system and moved towards the center of the solar system. If it had not been attracted by Jupiter on the way, it might have collided with the earth in the unpredictable space. Then the fate of the dinosaurs would have been the fate of us humans. This sounds reasonable. After all, Jupiter’s huge gravitational pull may change the trajectory of nearby stars. Do you think this is the case?
