About 41 light-years away around the star HD 69830, scientists have detected 3 planets & an asteroid belt. The outermost planet's orbit sits in the habitable zone of its star (a "sweet spot" that's conducive for the formation of life). However, they think the planet is not exactly Earth-like...
...The setup is similar to our own solar system in many ways: The outermost planet is located just within the star's habitable zone, where temperatures are moderate enough for liquid water to form, and the system also contains an asteroid belt.
The newly discovered planets have masses about 10, 12 and 18 times that of Earth, and they zip around the star in rapid orbits of about nine, 32 and 197 days, respectively.
Based on their distances from the star, two inner worlds nearest the star are rocky planets similar to Mercury, the scientists suspect. The outermost planet is thought to have a solid core of rock and ice, shrouded by a thick gas envelope.
The 3 planets were detected using a technique that analyzes a star's "
stellar wobble". The planet in the habitable zone is thought to be similar to
Neptune. Whether it's theoretically possible for life to develop in a gas giant, hopefully there's some astronomers on Kos that can answer that question? Another problem that life would have on this planet is the
Asteroird Belt in the system...
Computer simulations....suggest that the outermost planet orbits just outside the asteroid belt, where it would act as a gravitational shepherd to keep the belt in order.
Unfortunately for any prospective inhabitants of the Puppis system, however, the greater mass of the asteroid belt means planets there would be under constant bombardment, said Dr. Beichman, who was part of the Spitzer team. The Puppis system, he said, "would be a tough place to set up camp."
However, one interesting possibility not mentioned in the article that I wonder about is whether the
planet's moons would be possible locations of life?
Triton (Neptune's Moon) Europa (Jupiter's 6th Moon)
It's speculated that moons of gas giants in our solar system might have primitive forms of life, since they might have water & some atmosphere. Ganymede & Europa around Jupiter, Titan around Saturn, and Triton around Neptune are thought to be "possibilities".
Since the moon or moons of this planet 41 light-years away would be in the habitable zone too, is it possible that life could develop "around" the Neptune-size planet?