A question on habitable moons ?

[toymaker]

It has been said that many of exoplanets found would have their moons in the habitable zone in their solar systems.And as such the idea arose that they could support life.<br />My question though is-would they be able to create or support life, if the Jupiter-like planet like ours would draw space objects which would provide constant bombardment ?

 

[thalion]

^<br />That's an interesting question, one that I don't think I've seen an answer for. Also a likely issue are any radiation belts; a jovian planet with strong radiation belts like Jupiter's could quickly erode any dense atmosphere around a moon if it orbited within them, IIRC.

 

[summoner]

Exactly also as far as bombardment, eventually, as a system ages those would become more rare. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> <br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:271px;background-color:#FFF;border:1pxsolid#999"><tr><td colspan="2"><div style="height:35px"><img src="http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/htmlSticker1/language/www/US/MT/Three_Forks.gif" alt="" height="35" width="271" style="border:0px" /></div>

 

[yurkin]

Why would it be under constant bombardment? I don’t think it would be any different then if it was a planet in the same space.<br /><br />Jupiter has intense radiation belts but Saturn does not, so it really depends on the planet’s size. My concern would be that a gas giant must be huge in order for an Earth sized habitable moon to form in its proto planetary disc. In that case nothing could live on the planet even if it did have a magnetic core.<br /><br />Or maybe it has less to do with the mass of the gas giant and more to do with its proximity to the sun. It would spin faster and therefore more of its mass would end up in its moon system.

 

[silylene old]

<font color="yellow">Why would it be under constant bombardment? I don’t think it would be any different then if it was a planet in the same space. <br /></font><br /><br />But on average, the devastation from the impacts would be greater, resulting from higher collision speeds due to the larger gravitational well of the primary planet. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>