Resumen de Super-Earths pull in asteroids that seed life
Planets up to 10 times more massive than Earth, aka super-Earths, might play billiards with planetary systems. If a super-Earth existed in our own solar system, say, between Venus and Earth, far more asteroids would collide with us, new simulations show. Asteroid hits aren't necessarily a bad thing--if the timing is right. Understanding how massive planets influence others nearby could help direct the search for exoplanetary life. Our galaxy is overrun with super-Earths, so Jeremy Smallwood at the University of Nevada and his colleagues set out to discover what their effect might be on neighboring worlds. They simulated the formation of the inner solar system, shuffling a theoretical super-Earth around, and found that one closer to the sun than we are would increase the number of asteroid impacts on our planet. A super-Earth outside our orbit would do the opposite.
