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Jupiter is too large for anyone to get their head around. It's too far away and just too alien for an impact to have any effect on the population. On the othe
by tvon 14y ago
Jupiter is too large for anyone to get their head around. It's too far away and just too alien for an impact to have any effect on the population.
On the other hand, Mars has been the subject of countless fantasies and observations, we have the surface well mapped and if we get a good look at the impact crater (or the impact itself) it will be a matter of hours before someone overlays a map of NYC or London on the imagery.
Mars being smaller than Earth also adds a lot of weight to the discussion. Something hitting Jupiter is just not unexpected, but if our smaller sibling gets struck then there is something to talk about.
- rory096 14y agoMore than just large, it's gaseous and thus unrelatable. People see grainy images of some dark object breaking up over Jupiter, but they can't wrap their head around what that is- what does an impact on a gaseous planet even look like? Mars, on the other hand, is much more visceral to people. We have pictures from the ground- and it looks like [places on] Earth.