Surprising number of exoplanets could host life
New insight to inform future NASA missions

Date:
July 31, 2020
Source:
University of California - Riverside
Summary:
A new study shows other stars could have as many as seven Earth-like
planets in the absence of a gas giant like Jupiter.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Our solar system has one habitable planet -- Earth. A new study shows
other stars could have as many as seven Earth-like planets in the absence
of a gas giant like Jupiter.


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This is the conclusion of a study led by UC Riverside astrobiologist
Stephen Kane published this week in the Astronomical Journal.

The search for life in outer space is typically focused on what scientists
call the "habitable zone," which is the area around a star in which an
orbiting planet could have liquid water oceans -- a condition for life
as we know it.

Kane had been studying a nearby solar system called Trappist-1, which
has three Earth-like planets in its habitable zone.

"This made me wonder about the maximum number of habitable planets
it's possible for a star to have, and why our star only has one,"
Kane said. "It didn't seem fair!" His team created a model system in
which they simulated planets of various sizes orbiting their stars. An algorithm accounted for gravitational forces and helped test how the
planets interacted with each other over millions of years.



==========================================================================
They found it is possible for some stars to support as many as seven,
and that a star like our sun could potentially support six planets with
liquid water.

"More than seven, and the planets become too close to each other and destabilize each other's orbits," Kane said.

Why then does our solar system only have one habitable planet if it is
capable of supporting six? It helps if the planets' movement is circular
rather than oval or irregular, minimizing any close contact and maintain
stable orbits.

Kane also suspects Jupiter, which has a mass two-and-a-half times that
of all the other planets in the solar system combined, limited our
system's habitability.

"It has a big effect on the habitability of our solar system because
it's massive and disturbs other orbits," Kane said.



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Only a handful of stars are known to have multiple planets in their
habitable zones. Moving forward, Kane plans to search for additional
stars surrounded entirely by smaller planets. These stars will be prime
targets for direct imaging with NASA telescopes like the one at Jet
Propulsion Laboratory's Habitable Exoplanet Observatory.

Kane's study identified one such star, Beta CVn, which is relatively close
by at 27 light years away. Because it doesn't have a Jupiter-like planet,
it will be included as one of the stars checked for multiple habitable
zone planets.

Future studies will also involve the creation of new models that examine
the atmospheric chemistry of habitable zone planets in other star systems.

Projects like these offer more than new avenues in the search for life
in outer space. They also offer scientists insight into forces that
might change life on our own planet one day.

"Although we know Earth has been habitable for most of its history, many questions remain regarding how these favorable conditions evolved with
time, and the specific drivers behind those changes," Kane said. "By
measuring the properties of exoplanets whose evolutionary pathways may
be similar to our own, we gain a preview into the past and future of
this planet -- and what we must do to main its habitability."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_Riverside. Original written by Jules
Bernstein. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Stephen R. Kane, Margaret C. Turnbull, Benjamin J. Fulton, Lee J.

Rosenthal, Andrew W. Howard, Howard Isaacson, Geoffrey W. Marcy,
Lauren M. Weiss. Dynamical Packing in the Habitable Zone: The Case
of Beta CVn.

The Astronomical Journal, 2020; 160 (2): 81 DOI:
10.3847/1538-3881/ab9ffe ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200731085635.htm

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