Intro ~
If you combined all the other planets in our solar system Jupiter would fill that mass more than twice. The largest [and oldest] planet in our solar system, Jupiter is a gas giant with a solid core that maybe only the size of planet Earth. Jupiter is so massive that if it were a hollow shell 1,300 Earths could fit inside it. Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft traveled 405 days to reach Jupiter for a fly by back in 2007. That’s more than 13 months travel time in weightless space, having to travel around 500 million miles, give or take 50 to 100 million miles depending on its elliptical orbit around the Sun. Jupiter has up to 95 moons orbiting around it so one can infer it’s rather easy to “get mooned” on Jupiter? 🙂 I find it interesting that our Earth days are measured by one complete rotation each 24-hour period, while Jupiter makes a complete spin in just 10.5 hours.

The Bully on the Block ~
The required distance to travel around the Earth at the equator [the widest point] is 24,901 miles. So when you’re talking about Jupiter the Earth dwarfs in comparison. But Earth is our home it’s where we live so I am talking about this but why? Why? Why? Because not enough people and governments are focused on and talking about the single most existential threat to our civilization, an interesting and ominous fact about Jupiter that can and will [I predict] continue to greatly influence life on Earth from some 500 million miles away. Jupiter is unique in one eerie aspect – due to its massive gravitational pull Jupiter can, does, and will sometimes pull an asteroid from it’s normal home inside the Asteroid Belt and send it on a collision course toward other unsuspecting planets. Asteroids with a 1 km (0.62 mile) diameter strike Earth every 500,000 years on average while larger collisions – with 5 km (3 miles wide) objects happen approximately once every twenty million years.

More on the Asteroid Belt ~
The Asteroid Belt, as it is referred to, lies between Mars [the fourth planet from the Sun] and Jupiter [the fifth planet from the Sun]. These asteroids are prehistoric stand-alone remnants [some very large] that never were included among the other planets as our solar system formed. Please be aware [in case you aren’t] that the Earth’s atmosphere is being pummeled constantly by smaller particles, very manageable pieces of space debris which all have one thing in common – they are too small and unable to survive the fiction caused as they try to enter our atmosphere and as a result they burn up prior to hitting our surface. Here are some helpful facts regarding the Asteroid Belt from websites I listed at the bottom of this article for your perusal:
– While most asteroids range down in size to pebbles or even dust particles, 200 asteroids are known to be larger than 100 km [62 miles in diameter!]. Moreover, there are 0.7 to 1.7 million asteroids with a diameter of 1 km or more [.62 miles].
– The four largest asteroids in the main belt are Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. Ceres is also a designated dwarf planet and is the largest asteroid in the inner solar system.
– Even though there are many objects in the asteroid belt, the distance between them is still so large (around 600,000 miles). Because of that, spacecraft can fly through the belt without colliding with any asteroids.

An All-Naturale’ Calamity ~
The scientific community suspects it was most likely Jupiter behind the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs. That piece of space debris [now known as the Chicxulub Impact Event] measured 10 to 15 kilometers, or between 6.0 to 9.25 miles wide. The impact area was located on the northwestern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula. During that time in geologic history [65 million years ago] the area was a shallow seabed. No one was around back then to detail the damage [except the dinosaurs] but science has been able to uncover what happened next. Anything in the way of that fireball’s direct hit was obviously squished into oblivion and the massive crater that resulted buried what was left of the asteroid. However, it was what happened after the impact that affected all life on the planet. We’re talking about a massive object capable of colliding with the Earth’s surface at up to 90,000 miles per hour! Craters, tidal waves, and earthquake aftermaths were the least of the worries for life on the planet at that time. The dust and debris sent into the air from the collision blocked the Sun out and around the globe for a decade! Killing all vegetation which was the source of food for most dinosaurs. When the plant-eaters died off that would have left the flesh eating dinosaurs running out of food next. Not to mention that with blocking out the Sun for that length of time extremely frigid weather would have taken hold all around the globe.

Concluding ~
I would say we are rolling the dice [that one of these larger asteroids doesn’t pay us a visit] but I would also say that some attention has been paid to the eventuality of a larger asteroid impact. There has been some rumblings within the ranks of the U.S. government to address capabilities to blast one of these into tinier pieces before it can impact the planet in a negative way. I’m not sure this effort could ever succeed given what I’ve heard about the enormity of some of these objects? What I found more interesting to ponder is that in the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, it prophesies that during the end times some type of natural calamity will take place which will result in the formation of a one world government, or a coalition across the globe. What could possibly be big enough to move all the unique cultures across the globe in some common cause of survival? If one speculated on a worldwide shortage of food to do the trick this theory can make sense since I don’t know of anyone or any nationality that does not have to eat to survive? But how do we get to such an eerie place? Could it be that Jupiter once again plays host to one of these enormous asteroids which eventually collides with the Earth darkening our world for years upon years? Imagine what would happen to our food supply among many other global catastrophes… well, the dinosaurs found out.

For more information please visit these informative sites:
planetary.org/notable-asteroid-impacts-in-earths-history
lpi.usra.edu/science/kring/Chicxulub/discovery
science.nasa.gov/jupiter.