[Sam Cree]

Are they implying that earth like planets may also be orbiting this star?

[m1911]

Looks more like it's the first thing they've found with any analogues to any of the planets in our Solar System. In this case, to Jupiter, not Earth.

[Dead Corpse]

We don't have scope resolution down to the level where we could see an Earth sized planet that close in to its Primary.

I'm curious though. Let's build a ship that can get us there and back again, and go find out for our selves. ;-)

[RightWhale]

Are they implying that earth like planets may also be orbiting this star?

Yes. Haven't seen any yet, but they will no doubt use the new NASA earthlike planet finder instruments to be launched in the next few years to look exactly there.

[longshadow]

Are they implying that earth like planets may also be orbiting this star?

They're suggesting that earth-like planets COULD exist in this system, not that they DO exist.

The point being that solar systems with Jupiter-like planets in highly elliptical orbits (which is typically what we find when we DO find an extra-solar planet, because they are easier to find) would cause unfavorable gravitational pertabations on any Earth-like planet in an Earth-like orbit, resulting in the earth-like planet being flung out into space in a relatively short period of time.

So, the system thay have found, with a Jupiter-like planet in a nearly circular orbit at a distance similar to Jupiter, is Earth-like planet compatible; all the others that have been discovered to date have not been compatible.

[Political Junkie Too]

Are they implying that earth like planets may also be orbiting this star?

Following up on the explanations, Jupiter-like planets mark the point where the rocky planets separate from the gaseous planets. The solar system forms when gas and dust begin to swirl and rotate. As the dust molecules stick to each other, they get denser and begin to attract each other. The heavier ones fall to the center of the dust cloud and begin to form the star. Others clump together at various orbital distances relative to their mass and become the basis for the planets. Once the density of the protostar reaches the point of ignition, the star "lights up" and the explosion blows away all the loose dust, leaving the rocky clumps to become the planets (the dust is pushed to the outer limits, probably becoming the Oort Cloud that births comets). The clumps further away become the gas giants, like Jupiter. The "no man's land" between the rocky planets and the gas giants would be like the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

If a Jupiter-like planet were to have an elliptical orbit, it would sweep up all the inner dust, preventing the inner rocky planets from forming. A circular orbit would allow other circular-orbiting planets to form. That is why a Jupiter-like planet around a star is a promising sign.

-PJ

(I hope I got that right to a layman's degree of accuracy)