Young planetary systems are violent, with new planets often colliding into each other. Such environments were thought to be too rough for life since they are so harsh and extreme. But the latest research now suggests astronomers should, in fact, turn their telescopes to these solar systems in the search for alien life.
The search for extraterrestrial life has so far centred around planets orbiting stars similar to our own.
This is because of a bias presuming other solar system containing aliens will likely look like ours.
But almost none of those “solar twins” – stars resembling our own – have actually been found to exist.
Now new University of Sheffield research suggests solar systems formed in turbulent times, when stars form in pairs, could actually improve the chances of allowing the planets around them to be the right temperature.
Such habitable planets sit in a zone where liquid water can exist and life could consequently flourish.
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When they encounter a third star, a binary pair of stars might be pushed together.
This, in turn, could expand the habitable zone, increasing the likelihood of life.
The habitable zone is dubbed the “Goldilocks zone”: existing where the temperature is just right – not too hot and not too cold.
Those perfect conditions are believed to be necessary for life since water could allow complex molecules to eventually evolve into life can form.
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Approximately a third of our galaxy’s star systems are made up of these binary pairs, and the chance of them being is higher when the stars are young.
In such systems, when the stars are far enough apart, the Goldilocks zone is set by the radiation emanating from individual stars.
If the stars are close enough, the zone’s size expands, because the stars feel the warmth from each other and the planet is more likely to be in the right place, doctors Bethany Wootton and Dr Richard Parker write.
The University of Sheffield researchers used computer simulations to understand how the stars might interact.
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And in a typical “stellar nursery”, where there would be 350 or so binaries, some 20 of them would be squeezed together in such a way as to expand their Goldilocks zone, and with it the chance of alien life.
In some cases, those habitable zones even overlapped, consequently increasing the chances of life.
Dr Wootton said: ”Our model suggests that there are more binary systems where planets sit in Goldilocks zones than we thought, increasing the prospects for life.
“So those worlds beloved of science fiction writers – where two suns shine in their skies above alien life – look a lot more likely now.”
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