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Earth-like Planets and Hot Jupiters

Caption: Schematic view (not to scale) with our solar system on the upper level and a habitable planetary system with a "hot Jupiter" on the lower level. Our solar system has four terrestrial planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. Earth is in the habitable zone, where water can exist on its surface. The lower planetary system contains a "hot Earth" a few times larger than the Earth but very close to the star, an ocean-covered planet in the habitable zone, and several icy planets in the outer system. This image relates to article that appeared in the September 8, 2006, issue of the journal Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Sean Raymond of University of Colorado-Boulder and colleagues, was titled "Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration."

Credit: Photo provided by Sean Raymond, University of Colorado-Boulder, using images from NASA, via Science-AAAS.

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