KILLER ASTEROIDS FROM THE DEPTHS OF SPACE
Jupiter is the heavyweight of the Solar System, some 300-times more massive than Earth and with a gravitational field that influences a vast region of space. Astronomers often think of it as a guardian of the smaller rocky planets in the inner Solar System because of the way it disrupts the orbits of threatening comets – tearing them apart, or sometimes swallowing them entirely. But new research suggests Jupiter’s gravity has a darker side, offering a hiding place for previously unknown asteroids and comets that could, if disrupted, bombard the vulnerable inner planets.
The new class of object, identified in recently published research by Kenta Oshima of Japan’s National Astronomical Observatory, has found a different solution to
