This is why Jupiter may be much important than you think

Why our gassy big brother is rather useful

This is why Jupiter may be much important than you think
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As we hurtle through space on this piece of rock we call home, we're sure very few of you ever stop to think about life on other planets.

Oh, sure, ever since Matt Damon decided to have an extended holiday up there, we've all been paying lots of attention to Mars, while Mercury was in the news just this week as astronomers across the world observed its transit across the sun, with the small, brave rocky planet flying across the face of our star in a celestial masterpiece.

But what about our bigger brothers - those huge gassy giants out towards the colder outreaches of the Solar System? No, we forget about them most of the time - even that huge beast Jupiter, which boasts a mass of two and half times that of all the other planets in our system put together.

However, as this video demonstrates, we shouldn't forget about Jupiter (or Dre, now we come to mention it) - in fact, scientists believe that it may be the reason that Earth exists at all. Furthermore, it could even be protecting us from harm right now.

Thanks, big guy.

(Image: Shutterstock)

Marc Chacksfield
Content Director

As Content Director of Shortlist, Marc likes nothing more than to compile endless lists of an evening by candlelight. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.