EARTH.COM - In the cosmic game of planetary billiards, giant gas planets can act as colossal wrecking balls, effectively pushing their Earth-like counterparts out of the stable zones that might harbor life.
Two recent papers dive into this concept further, investigating the roles of giant gas planets in two distinct star systems. What they reveal might alter how we view the potential for life in other parts of the universe.
The study focuses on a star system known as HD 141399. Unique in its formation, it houses four giant planets that are positioned relatively farther from their star. This setup bears similarity to our solar system, where both Jupiter and Saturn lie at a considerable distance from the sun.
But unlike our solar system, these planets create chaos. “It’s as if they have four Jupiters acting like wrecking balls, throwing everything out of whack,” explains Stephen Kane, the paper’s author from UC Riverside. Through various computer simulations considering the data on these planets, Kane sought to determine if a planet similar to Earth could sustain a stable orbit within the system’s habitable zone.