On the Possibility of Habitable Moons in the System of HD 23079: Results from Orbital Stability Studies

Abstract

The aim of our study is to investigate the possibility of habitable moons orbiting the giant planet HD 23079b, a Jupiter-mass planet, which follows a low-eccentricity orbit in the outer region of HD 23079's habitable zone. We show that HD 23079b is able to host habitable moons in prograde and retrograde orbits, as expected, noting that the outer stability limit for retrograde orbits is increased by nearly 90% compared to that of prograde orbits, a result consistent with previous generalized studies. For the targeted parameter space it was found that the outer stability limit for habitable moons varies between 0.05236 and 0.06955 AU (prograde orbits) and between 0.1023 and 0.1190 AU (retrograde orbits) depending on the orbital parameters of the Jupiter-type planet if a minimum mass is assumed. These intervals correspond to 0.306 and 0.345 (prograde orbits) and 0.583 and 0.611 (retrograde orbits) of the planet's Hill radius. Larger stability limits are obtained if an increased value for the planetary mass m_p is considered; they are consistent with the theoretically deduced relationship of m_p^{1/3}. Finally, we compare our results to the statistical formulae of Domingos et al. (2006) [MNRAS 373, 1227], indicating both concurrence and limitations.