Quizzy 12

I haven't got an answer to this yet but as of yesterday NASA has a list of 12179 Near Earth Objects, 869 with a diameter of 1km or more, if one of the larger ones hits us, well that could be the end of us.

I'm going to have a guess at Mars, being as it is near us and there is an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Yes,it's Jupiter. Well done John.

By far the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter is 318 times heavier than the Earth and,as a result, has a far higher gravitational pull.This huge force acts as a magnet for comets from the edge of the solar system.

Besides directing some asteroids towards Earth, Jupiter is the Earth's saviour. Jupiter is so large it can 'swallow ' a five kilometre long rock wihout any lasting damage.Without Jupiter, the current impact rate of asteroids and comets might be about 1,000 times higher. We are lucky Jupiter has saved the Earth countless times but an asteroid the size of the Arc de Triomphe can still hit the Earth once every 2,000 years.An asteroid the size of St.Peter's Basilica can hit Earth every 30,000 years.

A 19 metre boulder disintegrated 32  kilometres up in the atmosphere and injured 1,500  people and damaged 7,200 buildings in Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013.