Explain to me, how is Jupiter deflecting a significant number of asteroids if it can only be in one place at any one time and its orbit is nearly 12 years long? Wouldn’t asteroids have a huge window to get past it while it’s on the other side of the sun?
I dont know for sure, but its likely to do with the fact that the asteroids orbit the sun too. Even if the asteroid is coming in on the other side of the sun from jupiter, it has to orbit the sun in order get there in the first, meaning there’s a good chance it gets caught by jupiter before it can get close
Explain to me, how is Jupiter deflecting a significant number of asteroids if it can only be in one place at any one time and its orbit is nearly 12 years long? Wouldn’t asteroids have a huge window to get past it while it’s on the other side of the sun?
I dont know for sure, but its likely to do with the fact that the asteroids orbit the sun too. Even if the asteroid is coming in on the other side of the sun from jupiter, it has to orbit the sun in order get there in the first, meaning there’s a good chance it gets caught by jupiter before it can get close