Jupiter... A Cosmic Vacuum Cleaner?!

I always thought it would be interesting to know more about stars and planets.

I remember having to learn the names of the planets and their order of closeness to the sun.

After all these years, I do remember a few things:

• Earth is the third closest planet to the sun.
• Mars looks blood red, so it was known, in ancient times, as the planet (and god) of war.
• Saturn is surrounded by pretty colored rings.
• Jupiter is the largest planet.

With the creation of bigger telescopes, the field of astronomy has developed so much in my lifetime. I never paid much attention - distance calculated in millions of light years was too much to comprehend...

So imagine my surprise, when I heard - last month - that Jupiter, acting like a giant vacuum cleaner, was hit by a comet. The moment of impact was caught by the camera of an amateur astronomer.  (Both photos to the left show the same image, but one has a filter.)

In fact, the article said that Jupiter regularly protects the earth from being hit by comets and asteroids... Some estimate that Jupiter is hit one to five times a month...

I didn't know that!

Light years are beyond me - but I'm very familiar with vacuum cleaners!

Maybe it's time to give planets a second thought! When expressed in terms I can comprehend (i.e., vacuum cleaners) events occurring in space are pretty amazing!