Did Jupiters gravity prevent an eighth planet from forming in the asteroid belt?
Apparently yes. Well, a ninth planet (we do have eight, now that poor Pluto’s been downgraded to a dwarf planet). NASA says Jupiter’s so huge that its gravity keeps all those asteroids from combining to form a planet. If the planetary particles that made up Earth eons ago were close enough to Jupiter, we wouldn’t be here either. The ones that found themselves caught between Jupiter and Mars are thrown around in an irregular orbit, keeping them from organizing enough to become a planet.
