As part of a research paper titled "The Search for Kepler's Giant Planet," a team of astrophysical scientists announced the publication of a comprehensive catalog of all discovered solar systems that include an Earth-sized planet and a neighboring Jupiter-sized planet. The researchers stated in their paper's abstract that compiling this catalog took a decade before finally taking center stage as the first of its kind in the context of searching for intelligent civilizations outside our solar system.
The team believes that the fruitful relationship between Earth and Jupiter plays a significant role in the emergence and sustainment of life on our blue planet and that this fundamental characteristic of our solar system could be key to finding Earth-like planets capable of hosting life within the Milky Way galaxy.
Jupiter is a gas giant primarily composed of hydrogen, similar to most stars, and due to its limited size in comparison to stars, it failed to become one—a process that would have required nuclear reactions of hydrogen atoms fusing together to form heavier elements like helium and lithium.
Despite this, Jupiter is massive relative to the rest of the planets, and its gravitational strength has enhanced the capture of rocky and icy asteroids floating in space, directing them toward Earth. Researchers believe that some of the space debris that fell on Earth might carry certain genetic codes or essential components of life, such as water.
Capturing Jupiter-like planets is not easy because they may be far from the star they orbit or they may not transit regularly. Lauren Weiss, the leader of the scientific team and assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame, wonders about how planets form. During the past decade, her scientific question has been which of the small discovered planets are neighbored by a giant Jupiter-sized planet, as this could greatly facilitate the long and strenuous search process.
The researchers used the W. M. Keck Observatory located at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii to record radial velocity by measuring the redshift property, which is the speed at which an object moves away from Earth.
The study encompassed 63 Sun-like stars harboring 157 small planets. Among these, the researchers spotted 13 Jupiter-like planets with indications of smaller planets orbiting the same star.
The researchers explain that the process of capturing Jupiter-like planets is not straightforward because these planets might be far from the star they orbit, or they may not transit regularly. In astronomical terms, a transit is when a planet passes in front of a star, blocking part of its light, similar to what happens when Venus transits in front of the Sun.
This study contributes to reshaping the search for Earth-like exoplanets and provides a new avenue for discovering other intelligent civilizations.
