A group of researchers at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas (USA) has studied the influence of planets adjacent to the Earth on the likelihood of life on its surface. It turned out that it is the large bodies nearby that prevent foreign space bodies from destroying all living things here.
Planets such as Saturn and Jupiter pull on themselves a mass of asteroids, which could repeatedly “fill up” the Earth during its entire existence, making it unusable for living beings. At the same time, it is important, as the researchers emphasize, that such objects are further from the Sun than earth-like bodies, and not vice versa. Otherwise, a smaller planet will try on the role of a "punching bag", and the number of asteroids from the main belt increases.
The results of this study are important from the point of view of searching for exoplanets. Given the new knowledge, scientists will be able to more accurately model the processes occurring on a potentially habitable planet.
Earlier, American scientists have stated that there is possible evidence that life was brought to Earth from Mars. According to the hypothesis put forward, the first living cells appeared on the Red Planet, and only then were delivered to our planet in an unknown way.
Alexander Soloviev