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Weird Exoplanet Orbits Could Screw Up Alien Life
astroengine writes "Life is good in the Solar System. We have Jupiter to thank for that. However, if the gas giant's orbit were a little more elliptical, there's every chance that Earth would become rather uncomfortable very quickly. Researchers looking at the zoo of exoplanets orbiting distant stars have simulated several scenarios of differing exoplanet orbits and find that many don't resemble our cozy Solar System. In fact, weird exoplanet orbits may be the deciding factor as to whether extraterrestrial life can form or not."
This fits the Rare Earth hypothesis which argues that complex life is rare in the universe. So earth's situation is "weird" and unusual if the hypothesis is correct.
If anything, all of this could be mean that our system is quite weird; at least on average.
Possibly, but not likely. Our current planet detection methods are skewed toward finding the oddballs with high mass and highly elliptical low orbital periods. They induce the most wobble and occlude the most light from their stars. As such, they are the easiest to find over short observation periods.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.