The planets and moons in the Solar System have their orbits, and everything seems to be in order. However, there are things that can throw this off balance by chances to collide with the Earth?

We are talking about celestial objects that are potentially hazardous. They can be near-Earth asteroids or comets that are large enough and have orbits overlapping with the Earth's. They may hit us and can cause serious damages. Termed potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs), there are more than 2,200 known PHAs as of August 2021.

What are the consequences if an asteroid strikes Earth? Well, it can destroy your homes and cause casualties or even induce species extinction. Indeed, some of the past mass extinctions are related to asteroid impacts. For example, the dinosaur's mass extinction about 66 million years ago has been suspected of being linked to the collision of an asteroid sized 10 km.

But you don't have to worry too much. We have a "vacuum cleaner" in the Solar System - Jupiter. Its mass attracts celestial bodies preventing many of them from hitting us. Thanks Jupiter or the Earth might have already been smashed to pieces!

However, PHAs may hit the Earth today, tomorrow, 10 years later or if we are lucky, 10,000 years later. Perhaps if all the astronomers disappear one day, the government might have asked them to find countermeasures and at that time you have to fear...

Recently, Jupiter has been hit by celestial bodies. Want to watch it? Visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCOJ6K8X2nA