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S. T. Maddison (Swinburne University of Technology), M. C. Gino (Dudley Observatory), A. Munro, P. Hinds (Swinburne University of Technology)
Although the detection of habitable terrestrial planets around nearby stars is currently beyond our observational capabilities, carrying out dynamical studies of known extrasolar planetary systems allows us to search for potential candidates. Following from the work of Menou & Tabachnik (2003), we use a symplectic integrator to search for potential stable terrestrial planetary orbits in the habitable zones of known extrasolar systems with multiple planets. A swarm of massless test particles is initially used to identify stability zones, and then an Earth-mass planet is placed within these zones to investigate their dynamical stability. We investigate three systems discovered to be confirmed or potential double planetary systems since the work of Menou & Tabachnik: HD169830, HD160691 and eps Eridani, as well as previously modeled multiple planet systems whose orbital parameters have been constrained more precisely. The results of these dynamical studies can be used as a potential target list for the Terrestrial Planet Finder.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #2
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