Why might the presence of a giant planet be both good and bad for life on a terrestrial planet in another solar system?

What will be an ideal response?


A giant planet can "kick" comets out of the inner solar system to an Oort-type cloud through gravitational encounters. This is good because it means that life on the inner planets can evolve without sterilizing giant impacts. A potential bad effect is that if a star does not blow away its surrounding disk of gas and dust soon enough, the giant planet may experience drag and migrate inwards, sweeping any inner planets into the central star. Observations of extrasolar planets appear to be examples of this migration process.

Physics & Space Science

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Physics & Space Science

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Physics & Space Science