Stability of Additional Planets in and Around the Habitable Zone of the HD 47186 Planetary System (The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2009)

• Ravi Kopparapu
• Rory Barnes
• Sean Raymond

Full Citation:
Kopparapu, R. K., Raymond, S. N., & Barnes, R. (2009). STABILITY OF ADDITIONAL PLANETS IN AND AROUND THE HABITABLE ZONE OF THE HD 47186 PLANETARY SYSTEM. The Astrophysical Journal, 695(2), L181–L184. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637x/695/2/l181

Abstract:
We study the dynamical stability of an additional, potentially habitable planet in the HD 47186 planetary system. Two planets are currently known in this system: a "hot Neptune" with a period of 4.08 days and a Saturn-mass planet with a period of 3.7 years. Here we consider the possibility that one or more undetected planets exist between the two known planets and possibly within the habitable zone (HZ) in this system. Given the relatively low masses of the known planets, additional planets could have masses $ \rlap{<}{\lower1.0ex\hbox{$\sim $}}10 {\,M_\oplus }$, and hence be terrestrial-like and further improving potential habitability. We perform N-body simulations to identify the stable zone between planets b and c and find that much of the inner HZ can harbor a 10 M ⊕ planet. With the current radial velocity threshold of ~1 m s–1, an additional planet should be detectable if it lies at the inner edge of the habitable zone at 0.8 AU. We also show that the stable zone could contain two additional planets of 10 M ⊕ each if their eccentricities are lower than ~0.3.

URL:
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/695/2/L181

VPL Research Tasks:
Task C: The Habitable Planet