Can Planets Exist in the Habitable Zone of 55~Cancri?
arXiv:1902.09613 · doi:10.1093/pasj/psz026
Abstract
The aim of our study is to explore the possible existence of Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone of 55~Cancri, an effort pursued based on detailed orbital stability simulations. This star is known to possess (at least) five planets with masses ranging between super-Earth and Jupiter-type. Additionally, according to observational constraints, there is a space without planets between 0.8~au and 5.7~au, noting that the inner part of this gap largely coincides with 55~Cnc's habitable zone --- a sincere motivation for the search of potentially habitable planets. It has previously been argued that terrestrial habitable planets are able to exist in the 55~Cnc system, including a planet at 1.5~au. We explore this possibility through employing sets of orbital integrations and assuming an integration time of 50~Myr. We found that the possibility of Earth-mass planets in the system's habitable zone strongly depends on the adopted system parameters, notably the eccentricity of 55~Cnc-f, which is controversial as both a high value () and a low value () have previously been deduced. In case that the low value is adopted (together with other updates for the system parameters), the more plausible and most recent value, Earth-mass planets would be able to exist in the gap between 1.0~au and 2.0~au, thus implying the possibility of habitable system planets. Thus, 55~Cnc should be considered a favorable target for future habitable planet search missions.
arXiv commentAccepted by the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ); 23 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables
References in corpus (32)
- Habitable Zones Around Main-Sequence Stars: New Estimates
- Improved Age Estimation for Solar-Type Dwarfs Using Activity-Rotation Diagnostics
- Habitable Zones Around Main-Sequence Stars: Dependence on Planetary Mass
- Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star
- Radial velocity planets de-aliased. A new, short period for Super-Earth 55 Cnc e
- A Super-Earth Transiting a Naked-Eye Star
- Five Planets Orbiting 55 Cancri
- Kepler-62: A five-planet system with planets of 1.4 and 1.6 Earth radii in the Habitable Zone
- The Exoplanet Population Observation Simulator. I - The Inner Edges of Planetary Systems
- Statistical properties of exoplanets III. Planet properties and stellar multiplicity
- On the Eccentricity Distribution of Exoplanets from Radial Velocity Surveys
- A Catalog of Kepler Habitable Zone Exoplanet Candidates
- The 55 Cnc system reassessed
- Superhabitable Worlds
- Formation of close-in super-Earths in evolving protoplanetary disks due to disk winds
- GJ 832c: A super-earth in the habitable zone
- Fitting random stable solar systems to Titius-Bode laws
- About Exobiology: The Case for Dwarf K Stars
- Radii, masses, and ages of 18 bright stars using interferometry and new estimations of exoplanetary parameters
- Revisiting rho 1 Cancri e: A New Mass Determination Of The Transiting super-Earth
- S-Type and P-Type Habitability in Stellar Binary Systems: A Comprehensive Approach. I. Method and Applications
- On the Stability of Test Particles in Extrasolar Multiple Planet Systems
- A Methane Extension to the Classical Habitable Zone
- Predicting a third planet in the Kepler-47 circumbinary system
- Exoplanet Predictions Based on the Generalised Titius-Bode Relation
- S-Type and P-Type Habitability in Stellar Binary Systems: A Comprehensive Approach. II. Elliptical Orbits
- Tidal dissipation and eccentricity pumping: Implications for the depth of the secondary eclipse of 55 Cnc e
- Stratospheric Temperatures and Water Loss from Moist Greenhouse Atmospheres of Earth-like Planets
- Application of the Titius-Bode Rule to the 55 Cancri System: Tentative Prediction of a Possibly Habitable Planet
- Detectability of Earth-like Planets in Circumstellar Habitable Zones of Binary Star Systems with Sun-like Components
- A dynamical perspective on additional planets in 55 Cancri
- Dynamics of a Probable Earth-mass Planet in GJ 832 System