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Life on Earth and other Planetary Bodies pp 291–306Cite as

Dynamical Aspects for the Earth’s Habitability

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Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 24))

Abstract

Discoveries of more than 560 extrasolar planets show a huge diversity of these planetary systems. Most of the extrasolar planetary systems are quite different to our solar system, only some of them indicate similarities with our system. By now, no other system than ours is known to host a habitable planet like the Earth. Assuming that solar system-like configurations are the most favorable ones where a habitable Earth might exist, we show the influence of the architecture of the planetary system on the habitability. The dynamics in the Solar System is certainly dominated by the two giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. Since it is more likely to find two planets with similar characteristics in a system than a clone of the Jupiter–Saturn pair of our Solar System, we vary the mass ratio of the two planets and their mutual distance. For the different configurations, we study the influence on test bodies (with negligible mass) moving in the habitable zone (HZ). In this chapter, we will discuss the dynamics of various configurations and illustrate some cases which would influence the habitability of the Earth significantly.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://exoplanet.eu/catalog.phpor http://exoplanets.org/planets.html

  2. 2.

    Two celestial bodies are in MMR if the ratio or their orbital periods is a ratio of integers.

  3. 3.

    We defined the “HZ” from 0.6 to 1.6 AU to include also the orbits of Venus and Mars.

  4. 4.

    That is, an orbital perturbation which is cumulative and which causes a change (increase or decrease) in an orbital element. Gravitational forces between the celestial bodies in a system cause secular changes in the longitude of the ascending node and longitude of perihelion.

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Acknowledgments

This work was carried out in the framework of project P19569- N16 supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Astronomy, University of Vienna, Türkenschanzstrasse 17, 1180, Wien, Austria

    Elke Pilat-Lohinger

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  1. Elke Pilat-Lohinger
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Correspondence to Elke Pilat-Lohinger .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geophysik, Astrophysik und Meteorologie, Universität Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, Graz, 8010, Austria

    Arnold Hanslmeier

  2. , Physical Geology and Global Cycles, Institute of Applied Geosciences (IAG), Schnittspahnstraße 9, Darmstadt, 64287, Germany

    Stephan Kempe

  3. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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Pilat-Lohinger, E. (2012). Dynamical Aspects for the Earth’s Habitability. In: Hanslmeier, A., Kempe, S., Seckbach, J. (eds) Life on Earth and other Planetary Bodies. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4966-5_17

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