Stop right there

Why is Jupiter stopping us from getting asteroid hugs?

Its gravitational pull moves asteroids away from the inner ring of planets.
- I should have added a sarcasm tag! My bad.
Asteroid hugs fucking hurt.
Jupiter says, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"
- So Jupiter's forever storm is like that thing my wife holds against me for when we have an argument later?
Its gravity sucks up all the little rockyboys headed inward
Because the last big one it left through caused a stop to Earths space probes visiting it for like 66 million years.

He looks like a jovial fella.

Spending time with him is just a gas!

Jupiter has a huge influence in the Solarsystem, the big gravitation of Jupiter and also the Sun can deflect most of the asteroids and Comets from the Earth orbit, but in certain circumstances can do the opposite and launch objects into Earth's orbit, depending on what angle they enter the system..

A good example is Apophis (∅~370 m), which is coming to visit us in 2029, although at quite a distance, but it will return in Abril 2036 and in this case, if it passes through a certain point there is a possibility that it will impact the Earth..

https://neal.fun/asteroid-launcher/

Simulate an impact where ever you want and see the consecuences scrolling down the results.

Oh, ok, it will target New York, the movies were right!

/s
- The White House is also a good target. Maybe also the Coronado Naval Base
Do we have ways/plans to prevent the potential hit or is it a "we will see" thing?
- There are several plans to avoid it, but it depends of several factors. We can avoid an impact if we know the exact position several Years before the supposed impact, if not, there is nothing we can do.

There's a giant asteroid that's trying to hit us but is caught in Jupiter's orbit?

Many. That's why it has so many moons
Jupiter is our guardian angel. A big asteroid-deflecting gas giant might be a condition for complex life as we know it to evolve.
- Every good solar systems has a big ol' Electrolux in common.
- It's always impressive how perfect our solar system is.
  
  Our range from the sun, our own moon, our magnetosphere, Jupiter...
- The trouble I have with statements like this is that “as we know it” is doing so much of the heavy lifting. We don’t have any experience with extraterrestrial life so it’s difficult to imagine how different or similar it may be to our own. We have a sample size of 1 with a completely unknown population. The best we can do right now look at line spectra and make inferences from organic chemistry. But that tells us very little about the potential forms life may take.
- I never got that. Surely, it's nearly as likely to divert an asteroid that would miss us to a course that would hit us as it is to do the opposite, right? The number that are actually trapped/impacted is a tiny percentage, and then the percentage of those that would have hit us must be a small percentage of that, is it really enough to be statistically significant?
- Dont forget Pluto out there protecting us from the cold unknown

Jupiter is doing a terrible job at protecting us from meteorites. Just ask the dinosaurs.

I think he does alright, everyone has a bad day now and then. Can't blame him for slipping once
I asked mine, she said "pretty bird?". She's right.
That's a p good batting average tbh
According to one of the newer Kurzgesagt videos, it may not be a meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs!
- It was Dave, wasn't it? That guy is such a fuck up!

Explain to me, how is Jupiter deflecting a significant number of asteroids if it can only be in one place at any one time and its orbit is nearly 12 years long? Wouldn't asteroids have a huge window to get past it while it's on the other side of the sun?

Same thing for Earth, it can only be at one place at anytime, creating a huge window for any asteroid to missed earth. And when it missed, it must loop around and orbit the sun, multiple times, increasing the chance of it got caught in Jupiter's gravitational well, which is a pretty massive distance.

Orbital mechanic is crazy and make no sense for a peasant like me. You would think hitting the sun is the easiest thing but It's actually really hard to launch something into the sun. And would require an enormous energy to do so.

Ever wonder why don't we just launch our nuclear waste into the sun? I thought so too and do some Google search about it. It was an interesting read.
- I'm pretty sure I remember reading that Jupiter's "protector" status might also be overblown, as it actually sends asteroids into the inner solar system as well.
I dont know for sure, but its likely to do with the fact that the asteroids orbit the sun too. Even if the asteroid is coming in on the other side of the sun from jupiter, it has to orbit the sun in order get there in the first, meaning there's a good chance it gets caught by jupiter before it can get close

Stop right there, criminal scum! Nobody breaks the law on my watch! I'm confiscating your stolen goods. Now pay your fine or it's off to jail.