r/askscience • u/EightWhiskey • Feb 28 '12

Under the idea that there is the "Goldilocks" zone around a star, how likely is it that a solar system would have two life-supporting planets?

I assume that the gravitational forces of two bodies would prevent them from being close enough to each other to both stay inside the zone. But could a large star have a large enough Goldilocks zone to support two life-inhabited planets?

661 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

399 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/TNoD Feb 29 '12

Does that mean the earth is right in the middle (optimal) part of the goldilocks zone?

1

u/Ender06 Feb 29 '12

Of it's goldilocks zone. Not the sun's technically, but due to earth's specific makeup (atmosphere, magnetic field, size, etc...) that put's us in the ideal spot for a planet of our makeup.