back to article Planet systems with 'hot Jupiters' PULVERISE innocent strays

Hot Jupiter planet systems aren't harbouring any Earthlike worlds because they're too busy systematically decimating any planets that pop up. Jupiter and its volcanic moon Io Boffins have discovered that because of the way so-called hot Jupiters are formed, they're generally the only planets in their systems as they destroy …

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  1. ravenviz Silver badge
    Boffin

    Or...

    How about actually ending up in orbit around the juggernaut itself, either by capture or accretion?

    1. Neil B

      Re: Or...

      They'd still be uninhabitable, so can safely be ignored?

  2. Gordon 10
    Flame

    What about age

    Is it possible that some hot jupiters are baby brown dwarfs and therefore form *before* the rest of the planets do? ie whilst the main star is still forming.

  3. nanchatte
    Headmaster

    I don't see why systematically reducing the number of planets by a mere 10% would rule out Earthlike worlds.... Or did you mean something else when you used the word 'decimate?'

    Although I suppose, if the "hot Jupiter" were to continue decimating aeon after aeon, one would end up with a geometric regression type probability scenario...... Oh the mind boggles....

    1. Martin Budden Silver badge

      @nanchatte the P.G.N.

      While I applaud your knowledge of the original meaning of the word, it is worth noting that in a modern context "decimate" usually means to destroy a significant proportion, or even to destroy entirely. My dictionary confirms this.

      1. Colin Millar
        Headmaster

        Re: @nanchatte the P.G.N.

        If you thought that was pedantic:

        The reason that "decimate" gets confused with "destroy" is that poorer quality dictionaries are loose with their synonyms - they just run a thesaurus scan and pick a few words. Now, "decimate" is perfectly legitimate as a thesaurus related word with "destroy" but you won't find a reputable dictionary giving it as a synonym.

        "Destroy a significant proportion of" is the widest common modern definition.

  4. Graham Marsden
    Unhappy

    Well there goes Tattooine

    Going by this article, a binary system is one where the "hot Jupiter" has accumulated even more mass and undergone fusion to be come a sun in its own right.

    If that's the case then you'd never see that fancy double sunset because your planet wouldn't exist in the first place.

    1. MichaelBirks

      Re: Well there goes Tattooine

      Not if the two suns form in place, with the rest of the system forming around them.

      The way I read it, it was the inward migration of the large mass object that swept the system.

      Similarly, any bodies outside the sweep of the long elipse as the Jovian migrated inward shouldn't have been too badly affected. Too cold, in all likelihood, to be habitable, of course.

  5. Taz Taziuk
    FAIL

    Decimating?

    "Hot Jupiter planet systems aren't harbouring any Earthlike worlds because they're too busy systematically decimating any planets that pop up"

    What, you mean these so-called Hot Jupiters are removing 1/10th of every earth-like planet they encounter?

    How to they do that?

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