Jupiter Takes Another Hit for the Team

Jupiter, just like Uncle Willy, has taken another hit for the team. And, just like Uncle Willy, Jupiter was big enough to take a blow that would have pretty much destroyed us in fire.

For the third time in four years, Jupiter appears to have been hit by something big enough to do a lot of damage to our planet or any thing else that isn't the coolest (not temperature wise, but like, you know, "cool, yo!" wise) planet in the solar system.

A flash on Jupiter captured by amateur astronomers is believed to have been caused by an asteroid or comet hitting the gas giant after being drawn in by its amazingly huge gravitational pull.
(Side note: If you weight 100 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 236.4 pounds on Jupiter)

"It's kind of a scary proposition to see how often Jupiter gets hit," says an astronomer who captured the flash on video, and also captured my thoughts on the matter in one sentence.
Some scientists believe that, just like good old Willy, without Jupiter in the family to absorb cosmic/old family members threats, life on Earth would never have been able to survive.