3 ms·

It seems from the article that GEMs are an interesting research area, but it doesn’t explain why. Could anyone ELI5?

• suprjami 3y ago
  A planetary/life theory suggests Jupiter and Saturn are the protectors of the inner planets. These huge gas giants capture large solid masses whizzing around in space and either swallow those masses or turn them into moons. Without these giants acting like the solar system's vacuum cleaners, it's much more likely for an inner planet like Earth to be struck and destroyed, which would be catastrophic for life on that inner planet. So assuming life in the universe takes a similar form to ours (liquid water, stable star) if we look for solar systems like ours with big outer vacuum cleaner planets, the chances of any inner planets in the Goldilocks zone having life are higher.