Ultimate solar system could contain 60 Earths

Ultimate solar system could contain 60 Earths
Why settle for one habitable planet, when you can have 60? An astrophysicist has designed the ultimate star system by cramming in as many Earth-like worlds as possible without breaking the laws of physics. Such a monster cosmic neighbourhood is unlikely to exist in reality, but it could inspire future exoplanet studies.

Sean Raymond of Bordeaux Observatory in France started his game of fantasy star system with a couple of ground rules. First, the arrangement of planets must be scientifically plausible. Second, they must be gravitationally stable over billions of years: there is no point in putting planets into orbit only to watch them spiral into the sun.

"The arguments were based on the recent scientific literature as well as some simple calculations I did," says Raymond. In some cases it was impossible to choose between two scenarios because of a lack of data, so he just picked the one he liked best.

New Scientist

So in theory, there could be 24 planets with life around Red Dwarf-class stars. In theory there could also be way to "build" super-packed systems, Jupiters. Although Gas giants are not habitable, they could have multiple moons that could support life. This kind of system with 4 Jupiters could support 36 habitable worlds.

60 Habitable planets would be possible in binary system with 2 Red Dwarfs. That system could be combination of Earth-like planet system and Jupiter system. But this kind of system could be super-rare, but not impossible.

originally posted by: Thebel
60 Habitable planets would be possible in binary system with 2 Red Dwarfs. That system could be combination of Earth-like planet system and Jupiter system. But this kind of system could be super-rare, but not impossible.

Seems flawed to me. Red dwarfs have lots of concerns about potential habitability of their exoplanets, and even if they could support plant life it's thought the color of the plants would end up being black, but it's not even certain that this would be enough to allow photosynthesis from such low energy radiation. There are spikes of higher radiation though and it's this variability which is one of many concerns:

Habitability of red dwarf systems

as more and more red dwarfs have been scrutinized for variability, more of them have been classified as flare stars to some degree or other. Such variation in brightness could be very damaging for life. Flares might also produce torrents of charged particles that could strip off sizable portions of the planet's atmosphere. So scientists who subscribe to the Rare Earth hypothesis doubt that red dwarfs could support life amid strong flaring. Tidal-locking would probably result in a relatively low planetary magnetic moment. Active red dwarfs that emit coronal mass ejections would bow back the magnetosphere until it contacted the planetary atmosphere. As a result, the atmosphere would undergo strong erosion, possibly leaving the planet uninhabitable.

The other problem is the small circumstellar habitable zones:

The habitability of red dwarf systems is determined by a large number of factors from a variety of sources. Although the low stellar flux, high probability of tidal locking, small circumstellar habitable zones, and high stellar variation experienced by planets of red dwarf stars are impediments to their planetary habitability, the ubiquity and longevity of red dwarfs are positive factors.

I don't see how so many habitable planets can fit in such a small circumstellar habitable zone.

Lastly, I also question the claim that this fantasy will do anything to inspire expolanet research. The exoplanet researchers are doing what they do to find exoplanets and I fail to see how this fantasy will affect their work.

Around a Red Dwarf??

If this was out there imagine the surprise on the freshly emerging life forms just they start to pray to the sun god and notice it getting a little too hot and rather loomingly large in the sky then BOOOM SUPERNOVA!!!

Peace,

Korg.

originally posted by: Korg Trinity
Around a Red Dwarf??

If this was out there imagine the surprise on the freshly emerging life forms just they start to pray to the sun god and notice it getting a little too hot and rather loomingly large in the sky then BOOOM SUPERNOVA!!!

Peace,

Korg.

Red Dwarfs are most abundant stars in the Milky Way. They are very stable and they can "live" very long times. They do not turn into supernova. In fact, Red Dwarfs have longer estimated lifespan than our Universe is old, because they are fully convective. Helium doesn't accumulate into core like in other star types. Its estimated that Red Dwarf with 0.1 solar masses can live 10 trillion years. Nearest Red Dwarf to us is Proxima Centauri, and as these stars are very dim, its not visible to naked eye, though its only 4,2 ly from us.

There is few problems with Red Dwarfs for life. The habitable zone is so near to the star (as they are "cool") that the planet is usually tidally locked, always showing same side to star. Eternal night on one side, eternal day on other. RD needs very thick atmosphere to balance the temperatures around the planet. If atmosphere is too thin, day side would be very dry and atmosphere would freeze on night side. There would be enormous winds to balance the temperature and pressure. Interesting thing is that RD emits mainly Infrared light, and all the plants here need visible light. RD doesn't emit any Ultraviolet light, which would be problem. Life would be very different around RD.

originally posted by: Thebel

originally posted by: Korg Trinity
Around a Red Dwarf??

If this was out there imagine the surprise on the freshly emerging life forms just they start to pray to the sun god and notice it getting a little too hot and rather loomingly large in the sky then BOOOM SUPERNOVA!!!

Peace,

Korg.

Red Dwarfs are most abundant stars in the Milky Way. They are very stable and they can "live" very long times. They do not turn into supernova. In fact, Red Dwarfs have longer estimated lifespan than our Universe is old, because they are fully convective. Helium doesn't accumulate into core like in other star types. Its estimated that Red Dwarf with 0.1 solar masses can live 10 trillion years. Nearest Red Dwarf to us is Proxima Centauri, and as these stars are very dim, its not visible to naked eye, though its only 4,2 ly from us.

There is few problems with Red Dwarfs for life. The habitable zone is so near to the star (as they are "cool") that the planet is usually tidally locked, always showing same side to star. Eternal night on one side, eternal day on other. RD needs very thick atmosphere to balance the temperatures around the planet. If atmosphere is too thin, day side would be very dry and atmosphere would freeze on night side. There would be enormous winds to balance the temperature and pressure. Interesting thing is that RD emits mainly Infrared light, and all the plants here need visible light. RD doesn't emit any Ultraviolet light, which would be problem. Life would be very different around RD.

I seem to be f'ing up loads recently.. I guess cause I'm ATS'ing amongst many other things.. I read it as Red Dwarf but for some reason I was thinking Red Giant lol

Ah well,

Peace,

Korg.