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Podcasts Take Two
How Jupiter helped form the solar system we know today
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Mar 31, 2015
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How Jupiter helped form the solar system we know today
New research from scientists at Caltech and UC Santa Cruz suggests the solar system as we know it may not have been the same if it weren't for one planet: Jupiter.
This dramatic view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings was obtained by Voyager 1 on Feb. 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 5.7 million miles (9.2 million kilometers) from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as 100 miles (160 kilometers) across can be seen here. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex end variable wave motion. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Voyager mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. *Image Credit*: NASA
This dramatic view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings was obtained by Voyager 1 on Feb. 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 5.7 million miles (9.2 million kilometers) from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as 100 miles (160 kilometers) across can be seen here. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex end variable wave motion. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Voyager mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. *Image Credit*: NASA
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NASA
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New research from scientists at Caltech and UC Santa Cruz suggests the solar system as we know it may not have been the same if it weren't for one planet: Jupiter.

The solar system as we know it today may not have been the same if it weren't for one planet: Jupiter.

That's what new research from two scientists at Caltech and UC Santa Cruz suggests.

Konstantin Batygin is one of the scientists behind the study, and is an assistant professor of planetary science at Caltech. He joins host A Martinez with more.