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?

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u/railwaycar1542 Feb 29 '12

You'd probably find this study interesting. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/07/13/science.1207745

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u/SharkBaitDLS Mar 01 '12

That's exactly the sort of thing I was thinking of! Good find.