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What Would Happen If Jupiter Went Rogue and Destroyed All the Other Planets?

Space is a very strange... place. With all the knowledge we’ve managed to amass over the centuries, there are still a lot of things we don’t know about our Universe, and even more about the ways it works. 
Jupiter it so big it could swallow 1,300 Earths 6 photos
Photo: NASA/ESA/A. Simon/M.H. Wong
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We started off like that because, well, common sense would tell you there is no way in hell (and no reason) for a planet like Jupiter to grow into a cannibal and start devouring its neighbors. But, remember, there’s a lot we don't know yet so, who's to say?

What you are about to see in the 8-minutes or so video below is an exercise of imagination ran by a group that likes to call itself What If. It tries to give us some answers on what would happen if the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter, decided all others are dinner, and went after them.

Before you go into it, we’ll have to tell you that yes, technically, Jupiter is large enough to swallow all other planets in the solar system, except, perhaps, for Saturn, which is almost its size - the thing has a diameter of around 87,000 miles (140,000 km). To put that into perspective, the diameter of Earth is just under 8,000 miles (12,700 km), while the smallest planet, Mercury, comes in at about half that.

Math a bit more complicated than measuring the diameter of the planet, performed by NASA, tells us Jupiter is large enough to swallow the Earth 1,300 times over.

So yes, in some respects it would be possible for Jupiter to devour the rest of its neighbors. But will it?

Well, probably a lot of bad things would have to go wrong with celestial mechanics and other such things, at the precise time, for this to happen, but in case it does, have a look at how it will unfold in the video below.

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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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